Forgot root password

so I followed these instructions - How to Reset Forgotten Root Password in Arch Linux

when I followed the instructions and got to the command line (?) I got this message -

bash: can’t set terminal process group(1) : innapropriate ioctl device

I was unable to type anything so I hit my reset button and restarted .

this isn’t the 1st time I’ve used this method for a forgotten password but the other times I succeeded in creating a new one . would like some help . I googled this error message but don’t find anything for my specific need .

If your user has sudo rights (by default it has) you can just run:

sudo passwd root

First it asks for your (normal) user password to let you run the command and then it asks for the new root passwd

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You probably already know this, but the guide is wrong, there shouldn’t be a space after init:

init =/bin/bash
# should be 
init=/bin/bash

I also get that error (as does the person who wrote the article) but it makes no difference.

The arch wiki has an entry for this, there’s a note about keyboards.

Note: Some keyboards may not be loaded properly by the init system with this method and you will not be able to type anything at the bash prompt. If this is the case, you will have to use another method.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Reset_lost_root_password#Using_bash_as_init


If you know your user password then it’s easier to just use sudo as @cfinnberg said. Although you don’t actually need the root part, since it defaults to the user account it’s run as, and sudo runs it as root.

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