Root Password Change History

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1

I have a dual boot with Windows 10. Manjaro is my main OS, but I have been using Windows for the past week. Today, I can’t log into root because the password is wrong. I’m sure I’m using the correct password, so there are only two possible

  1. I have brain damage.
  2. I’ve been hacked.

I hope everything is okay with my brain. Windows is really messy, so is it possible to hack Linux while using Windows? Can I check my root password change history without root access?

2

You shouldn’t run anything as root.

Try logon by using your username and password.

Then you can use sudo passwd root to change root password.

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3

There is more than these two possibilities.

How do you try to “log into root”?

Can you type in a terminal and it correctly displays what you are typing?
Not necessarily your password - just as a test whether all the needed keys work and produce the expected output.

next you can check your normal user account’s history by typing:
history
and see the last commands that where typed.

And you can look at whether and when the password files where changed:

ls -al /etc/passwd
ls -al /etc/shadow
4

I just try update and can’t enter correct password. Thanks, that’s what I was looking for.
And my password hasn’t been changed. I have a brain problem. I can’t remember the password I’ve been using for a year.

5

Have you now changed your password as @linux-aarhus instructed?

Perhaps one which will not tax your brain to such an extent. :wink:

6

I can’t change the password without a password. I will do it later from LiveCD.

7

Can you login with your user password? If you do that, then you can use sudo passwd root to change your root password; sudo asks for your user password to allow you run the command; and then it asks for the new root passwd.

If you opted to use the same password for your user and root during installation this still applies, considering the passwords are identical, but the accounts are not. However, if that is the case, then, yes, this also means that the boot media route is one of your only remaining options.

Here are brief instructions for that, thanks to @Mirdarthos - if you need them:

And for additional reference:

Cheers.

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8

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