Password DESPERATION!

[moondancer55]

I'm new to Linux and installed Mint Cinnamon a few weeks ago. I have an admin account and a user account. No problems with the user account, but I am unable to log into the Admin account. I always get a message saying wrong name or password.The only place I'm able to log in with the Admin name and password is in User Accounts. Out of frustration, I went into that and changed the password for the Admin account. Tried again to log into the system...no go. Tried to log into Software Manager with the new password while using the other account. No go...incorrect name or password. Then, out of sheer desperation, I logged back into User Accounts...which is the ONLY place the password and name are accepted...and changed the Admin account to NO password. I still can't log into the system because of incorrect name or password. And now I'm really screwed because I can no longer log into the Admin account in User Accounts because it insists I need a password when it says quite clearly beside the Admin name "no password". So basically I'm screwed and have no idea what to do. Has anyone else ever had such a problem? I run Windows also and have no problems at all there. Never even heard of such a thing. Desperate for help now!

[xenopeek]

I've deleted your other post. Please don't cross-post the same problem to multiple forums, see the forum rules.

You've lost me with "admin account" "Admin account", what do you mean with that exactly. Do you mean the root user, or do you mean a user with another name that has sudo privileges?

The root user, actual username "root", that is a special account and you can't log in with that to the graphical desktop unless in the Login Window application you have configured to allow that (you can log in with it at the root console from recovery mode, an option in your boot manager). The password of the root user is set during installation. It will be the password you initially gave for the first user created during installation.

The first user created during installation is by default a member of the sudo group, giving that user sudo privileges. This means you can use system programs such as User Account. But you would provide the password of the logged in user to use a program such as User Accounts, and not the password of some other user (not the root user's password either!). Read the text on your screen, it says you need to give your password...

Any additional users you might have created after installation are by default not made a member of the sudo group. So they don't have sudo privileges and as such can't use system programs such as User Account.

Once we confirm we are using the same slang, I'm sure we can figure out what to do next

[themraw435]

To quickly reiterate what xenopeek said what do you mean by "Admin Account"? Just wanted to throw in that you can't look at a linux system the same way you look and use a Windows system it is a different beast. When you are referring to "Admin Account" I think it is safe to assume you are talking about root unless you specifically made an account called Administrator. The root is the "superuser" of the system from root you can make system changes freely and install anything. Most users never really need to enter root and simply use the "sudo" command to do any work that requrire root. As a matter in fact Ubuntu does not even have root enabled out of the box!(i believe it still does not correct me if I'm wrong). Where I'm going with this is you don't need to have access to the "admin account" at all times. If you don't know what these terms mean that I mentioned like "sudo" and "root" I'd highly recommend learning a little more about Linux. You really get the full experience when you know how to use the terminal to get around the system and it gives you a better understanding of it all. Nothing against you because I was there too and still am compared to other but Windows makes us computer "Stupid" we don't see whats happening behind the scenes so when something doesn't work we don't fully understand the system behind it to correctly diagnose and fix the problem. But that's just my two cents here's a link to an in depth linux guide http://nixsrv.com/llthw. Good Luck feel free to PM me with any questions

[moondancer55]

By Admin User I do mean the root user. I do have the correct name and password for the root user however it still does not help me. My boyfriend set LInux up on my computer and he is as confused by this I am. He is in England for a few months right now, so he's not here at my computer but has done everything he knows to do via Skype to help me. He only uses LInux and he is totally cluless as to what's happening on my computer.

[moondancer55]

Let me add something here. I wanted to install this on a friend's computer that runs Windows XP and is incredibly slow, so much so that as a new computer user, he has just about given up in frustration. However if there is a problem with this version that my boyfriend installed on my computer, I DO NOT want to install it on my friend's computer. So I'd really like to figure out what's going on before I even attempt to install LInux from this DVD that my bf used to install it on mine. There are 2 user accounts on this OS...standard user and administrator. Am I making sense about any of this?

[xenopeek]

The three types of accounts you can have on your Linux system:

1. The root user, a.k.a. superuser, a.k.a. system administrator, with the actual username "root". This user is always present but you would generally not log in with this user. By default Linux Mint comes with this account enabled but disabled for logging in to the graphical desktop (you can enable that in the Login Window application, though you should not want to do that).
2. In Windows terminology, an administrator--but please don't use that word as it confuses whether you mean root or not... That is, a user that is a member of the sudo group and can run system programs by authenticating with its own password. You will never be asked to authenticate with root's password while logged in as another user.
3. A normal user, one not member of the sudo group and thus not able to run system programs.

Perhaps from that, you can restate your problem? I don't think there is anything wrong with your Linux installation; I think you are confused on some points as to which password you are being asked for.

Also, User Accounts perhaps has some settings for logging in without a password? But that won't work, at least if you are using Cinnamon. Please use the Login Window application instead to set up login without a password.

[flyboy1565]

Also for your friend I suggest they try several versions to see what works well with there system and personality. You can do this easily on usb live discs

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

[MtnDewManiac]

Let me add something here. I wanted to install this on a friend's computer that runs Windows XP and is incredibly slow, so much so that as a new computer user, he has just about given up in frustration.

I am using computers from the "Windows XP: The NEWEST Shiny Thing" era. I suggest that you install the Xfce version of Mint, it seems to use low amounts of available resources (RAM, CPU) and everything seemed faster after I switched to it.

However if there is a problem with this version that my boyfriend installed on my computer, I DO NOT want to install it on my friend's computer.

Respectfully, please do not blame the OS for the user's (or, possibly, her boyfriend's) errors.

There are 2 user accounts on this OS...standard user and administrator. Am I making sense about any of this?

Uhh... So by "administrator," you are not talking about root (which is the actual administrator, lol), but instead just another user account.

It just occurred to me that if "standard user" was the account that was created during the install process - and if your boyfriend did not change things afterwards - then it probably had sudo priveleges. And... possibly still does.

Still trying to understand why you would need a separate account named "administrator." Unless your boyfriend shares your computer and has his own account - and decided to name it "administrator," for whatever reason. But, other than that, the user account created during the installation process can do 99.9(99999999+)% of the things that would be required, such as installing apps, removing them, doing the update process, et cetera. You would just be asked for your password to proceed (aka "sudo access"). In a business or even a family computer where it will be used by multiple people, it makes sense to not give them all this ability, but since the installation process only creates one user, I wouldn't think things would be any different in practice.

Kind of confused,
MDM

[griffon]

I agree with above. It seems your boyfriend created an Administrator account for his own use. You don't need it. As stated above you should be able to anything from your user account - if the OS needs root access to do some operation it will ask you for YOUR password and then assign root privileges to you temporarily.

Is there some operation you have tried to do which your user account has not allowed?