Password required in Debian Mint Live?

[lindsey]

Why am I being asked for a root password when I try to access my partitions inside LMDE? Heck, I haven't created any passwords yet so how would I know the password?

[zerozero]

well, as you don't provide any kind of info, i had to dig and found that you are using pendrivelinux to create a live usb-stick of LMDE;
Knowing that, i can tell you that are some reports that with that method the system requires a password (don't ask why or what, i have no idea), i do know that if you use unetbootin you shouldn't face that problem.

[lindsey]

Ah I see, if that's the case, then very well spotted zerozero. Sorry I didn't provide more details - I assumed it was a common problem and didn't think pendrivelinux was relevant.

I'll be sure to try my luck with unetbootin. Though I should mention, I've been perusing all day and I'm sure I read somewhere that unetbootin was not compatible with Linux Mint 11. If I can dig up the link again, I'll post it, but if anyone knows ahead of time and can spare me the trouble, please confirm whether or not unetbootin is compatible with LMDE and Linux Mint generally. Thanks!

[wayne128]

Ah I see, if that's the case, then very well spotted zerozero. Sorry I didn't provide more details - I assumed it was a common problem and didn't think pendrivelinux was relevant.

I'll be sure to try my luck with unetbootin. Though I should mention, I've been perusing all day and I'm sure I read somewhere that unetbootin was not compatible with Linux Mint 11. If I can dig up the link again, I'll post it, but if anyone knows ahead of time and can spare me the trouble, please confirm whether or not unetbootin is compatible with LMDE and Linux Mint generally. Thanks!

No worry, I use unetbootin exclusively for most of my Linux OS installation.
Mint 8,9,10,11, LMDE-gnome, LMDE-xfce all works with unetbootin as least for me.

But I have to mention also, I used unetbootin on Linux OS, not on Windows OS.

[lindsey]

Following up with my earlier post:

Though I should mention, I've been perusing all day and I'm sure I read somewhere that unetbootin was not compatible with Linux Mint 11. If I can dig up the link again, I'll post it...

Here is the URL to the commentator who says unetbootin doesn't work with Linux Mint 11. See the end of the 4th paragraph. It's definitely worth a try, but I just thought I'd show you. Information I'm getting is sometimes mixed and inconsistent...

However, he does say that for the Ubuntu edition, not the Debian edition, so I may get away with it on this occasion even if he is correct...

[thatsallurspaceships]

Running from Debian Live DVD, installed via unetbootin, no problems here

[mikecz]

Following up with my earlier post:

Though I should mention, I've been perusing all day and I'm sure I read somewhere that unetbootin was not compatible with Linux Mint 11. If I can dig up the link again, I'll post it...

Here is the URL to the commentator who says unetbootin doesn't work with Linux Mint 11. See the end of the 4th paragraph. It's definitely worth a try, but I just thought I'd show you. Information I'm getting is sometimes mixed and inconsistent...

However, he does say that for the Ubuntu edition, not the Debian edition, so I may get away with it on this occasion even if he is correct...

I just tried to make a USB stick with the latest LMDE XFCE respin.

With unetbootin (made on a Windows XP machine), it never booted, with the 2G stick formatted as either FAT or FAT32. The very same stick formerly had the bootfiles for LMDE XFCE 201104 on it and worked like a champ (I believe that was made with unetbootin on the very machine).

Using the Universal USB Installer (AKA Pendrive Linux installer), I had the behavior listed above: it booted fine but kept asking me for a password. I even reset the password for the Live install user without luck.

I even made the stick with Win32DiskImager (the preferred method of making USB boot sticks with #! Linux), and that didn't work, either.

I have a DVD burned with the same image and it works fine.

The only thing strange is that the first time I downloaded the .ISO (and of course I don't remember which mirror I used), I only got 888meg of the 1.1gig file.

I hope this gets sorted out, since I like keeping LMDE XFCE on a USB stick for stick rescue situations.

MikeC

[thatsallurspaceships]

Use torrents it is safer if you are planing to do md5checksum.

[mikecz]

Use torrents it is safer if you are planing to do md5checksum.

I'm sure the ISO I ended up with is good, since it makes a perfectly working DVD.

I upgraded to the latest version of unetbootin (v555), but no change, with the stick formatted as either FAT or FAT32.

MikeC

[mikecz]

Turns out that unetbootin v555 worked fine with the new respin of LMDE XFCE. The problem was that the stick I was using didn't agree with the computer I was using to make it but it worked fine on my home machine (an HP laptop).

But it is interesting to know that the Pendrive boot maker doesn't work.

MikeC

[lindsey]

I don't think official support by either Unetbootin or Pendrive are great for LMDE, which is not as well heard of, and not part of the mainstream edition. Pendrive was hopeless for me but Unetbootin worked if you supply it with an iso, as mikec prob has done.

[Christian-pl]

Why am I being asked for a root password when I try to access my partitions inside LMDE? Heck, I haven't created any passwords yet so how would I know the password?

Did you try

Code: Select all

sudo <and then the command where you need the root password>

?

[lindsey]

Why am I being asked for a root password when I try to access my partitions inside LMDE? Heck, I haven't created any passwords yet so how would I know the password?

Did you try

Code: Select all

sudo <and then the command where you need the root password>

?

Yeah, it asks for a password - I even tried blank, but that doesn't work. And I don't know what the password is, it's not one I created...

[betacentauri]

I also had this problem with a pendrive created with Universal USB Installer. I managed to root by the following hack.
- At Mint boot screen, leave cursor on default option, press TAB to edit the boot stanza. Press the Space key and write the word 'single' (no quotes).
- Let the boot process go on. You'll be offered to "Press ENTER to maintenance mode, or CONTROL-D to..." some other option. Press ENTER.
- You have a root console now. Set your root password. While you are at it, you can 'visudo' and give ALL privileges to mint user. Set mint user password too.
- Give the 'exit' command to finish boot. Now you can give the administrative password or sudo as mint user.

[Pakalatak]

I have faced this problem yesterday :
-> got to the live desktop, had several time errors about "searching for an alternate display because #1 already in use.
-> after some 'no aswer', the screen switch to a nice mdm login (of course you have no login pass).
The behavior was more or less the same every reboot I tried (having the login poping sometimes right at the begining).

After some time, I figured out that this was probably a "new" screen.
In deed, I could switch using CTRL + ALT + F7 to the former desktop and launch installer !

Good luck

[telenux]

Yes, it's required but the devs and admins don't even test their own distro.

This is the situation in Mint 13 Maya KDE as well.

You can type, 'mint' or 'root' and nothing will work. Hitting the enter key doesn't work either.

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=113039&p=633369&hilit=password#p633369

I remember reading such posts in the last version of Mint, too.

They don't care?!? They are near the top of distrowatch because Linux noobs go with pretty gui pictures.

Why don't they even test their own distro and then when you install, you have to tweak things since everything is configured for donations and who invested.

P.S. it doesn't matter if you used Unetbootin or some program from Pendrivelinux or if you used dd or cat to copy your image to the usb drive. Or if it's a CD or DVD. That doesn't determine whether you need to enter a root password! Not since I've been booting up distros. There's a password or not depending on how they set it up.

Edit: Check this link

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=101215

I already found another link in which the way was to create a password: sudo passwd root

They should just set it up as using 'root' or 'mint' for the password as it's a livecd and only for demonstration purposes. Sure, security is good but it can be utilized for the install procedure.