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[SOLVED] Passwords messed up
- ticojohn
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[SOLVED] Passwords messed up
For some reason, the Synaptic Package Manager is no longer accepting my root password but instead will accept only my user password. What the heck? Where do I look and what do I look for to see what may have happened? To my knowledge I did nothing to cause the problem.
UPDATE: Just to be clear, if I want to open a terminal as root, or use su, the original root password still works.
UPDATE: Just to be clear, if I want to open a terminal as root, or use su, the original root password still works.
Last edited by ticojohn on 2017-05-02 20:21, edited 1 time in total.
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
Yes. From a root terminal, opened with root password, I can do apt-get updateBulkley wrote:Does it work? Does a CLI command such as apt-get update work?
I just read a post on the Ubuntu forum that may be related. Maybe has something to do with the gconf. They suggest opening gconf-editor but I don't know exactly how to do that and am a bit hesitant as it is not a Debian post.
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
Re: Passwords messed up
I'd be tempted to re-install Synaptic. That might entail doing a complete purge, including any Synaptic configuration scripts. I would suggest looking in the ~/. hidden files but Synaptic doesn't have one that I can find. If you have one, rename it and try again.
Which Debian are you using?
Do you have any sort of sudo set up?
Which Debian are you using?
Do you have any sort of sudo set up?
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
I am running Jessie i386. XFCE desktop. gdm3 as the display managerBulkley wrote:I'd be tempted to re-install Synaptic. That might entail doing a complete purge, including any Synaptic configuration scripts. I would suggest looking in the ~/. hidden files but Synaptic doesn't have one that I can find. If you have one, rename it and try again.
Which Debian are you using?
Do you have any sort of sudo set up?
Yes, I have my user set to use sudo
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
Okay, if I do
will that remove configuration files, or is there something more that needs to be done? Or is it better to do
Would this be appropriate and do I need to do this after doing the purge / remove ?
Code: Select all
apt-get purge synaptic
Code: Select all
apt-get remove synaptic
Code: Select all
aptitude purge '~c'
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
I looked at
and don't think that would be the thing to do.
Code: Select all
aptitude purge '~c'
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
The problem appears to be more widespread than just synaptic. I tried to open the System Log, from the System menu, and it too will not open with the root password but does open with my user password. What the HECK happened and how do I fix it? Not sure where to look. HELP!
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
- GarryRicketson
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Re: Passwords messed up
postby ticojohn » 2017-05-01 16:02
For some reason, the Synaptic Package Manager is no longer accepting my root password but instead will accept only my user password.
I do not use "sudo", so I might be wrong, but doing a quick search , I see this:ticojohn » Yes, I have my user set to use sudo
The way I interpret that, it is saying You do NOT use the "root" password, when you are using "sudo", you use your user password.from: https://linuxacademy.com/blog/linux/lin ... ners-sudo/
Note that it is asking for your password, not the root password.
---- additional ------
As far as this goes:
Well it depends if you really want to remove and purge some package,...Postby ticojohn » 2017-05-01 17:47
I looked at
Code: Select all
aptitude purge '~c'
and don't think that would be the thing to do.
is there some reason you do not use the -s option as well ?
Code: Select all
man aptitude
The -s option allows you to see what exactly will be purged, etc, But the problem is not that you need to re-install synaptic or anything, since you are using sudo, you are supposed to use the user password, ...I guess, like I said I don't use it, but that is what the search results say.-s, --simulate
In command-line mode, print the actions that would normally be
performed, but don't actually perform them. This does not require
root privileges. In the visual interface, always open the cache in
read-only mode regardless of whether you are root.
This corresponds to the configuration option Aptitude::Simulate.
Actually the manual confirms this, I did not read the entire manual for you, since I do not use "sudo", I have no reason to do that, so you might want to try reading it yourself.
Code: Select all
man sudo
OPTIONS
sudo accepts the following command line options:
-A Normally, if sudo requires a password, it will read it from the user's
terminal. If the -A (askpass) option is specified, a (possibly graphical)
helper program is executed to read the user's password and output the password
to the standard output. If the SUDO_ASKPASS environment variable is set, it
specifies the path to the helper program. Otherwise, if /etc/sudo.conf
contains a line specifying the askpass program, that value will be used. For
example:
Last edited by GarryRicketson on 2017-05-02 03:07, edited 2 times in total.
"What we expect you have already Done"
==========
Old Website
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==========
Old Website
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For the Birds
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What Does a Parrot Know About PTSD?
Re: Passwords messed up
For the moment, hold off on removing Synaptic. Your problem may be in Sudo. Somehow or other you may have given Sudo an extra permission directly or through groups. Try opening Synaptic in a terminal. Try it as a user and also as root. Post any error messages and behaviour.
I see Garry has posted and he is right so try his suggestion first.
I see Garry has posted and he is right so try his suggestion first.
- eor2004
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Re: Passwords messed up
Like the other users have said, and the way I see it too, is that your system is setup to use "sudo" password, your "user" password as root, I think you should remove yourself from "sudo" by doing an "deluser yourusername sudo" and then try again to open synaptic with your real "root" or "su" password, hope this helps!
Last edited by eor2004 on 2017-05-02 02:13, edited 1 time in total.
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- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
Here is an attempt to open synaptic in a terminal as user. I presume this is what you wanted to see.Bulkley wrote:For the moment, hold off on removing Synaptic. Your problem may be in Sudo. Somehow or other you may have given Sudo an extra permission directly or through groups. Try opening Synaptic in a terminal. Try it as a user and also as root. Post any error messages and behaviour.
I see Garry has posted and he is right so try his suggestion first.
Code: Select all
john@JohnBoy:~$ synaptic
bash: synaptic: command not found
Not sure what Garry's suggestion is. I read the link but don't see what actions I might take. And seeing that other programs, as mentioned previously, are also doing the same I wonder what might be messed up. Hope not to have to reinstall Jessie but will if necessary.
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
Hope that doing as you suggest doesn't make root password nonfunctional.eor2004 wrote:Like the other users have said, and the way I see it too, is that your system is setup to use "sudo" password, your "user" password as root, I think you should remove yourself from "sudo" by doing an "deluser yourusername sudo" and then try again to open synaptic with your real "root" or "su" password, hope this helps!
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
Okay. I did as suggested by eor2004 and removed myself from the sudo group. I now appear to have proper operation of Synaptic and System Logs from the System Menu .
Now that is appears to be working correctly, does anybody have ideas as to what may have caused this? I would not think that just adding myself to the sudo group would cause said behavior.
However, after deleting myself from sudo I did this
and then this
Somehow I am still able to use sudo . That's kind of crazy.
Now that is appears to be working correctly, does anybody have ideas as to what may have caused this? I would not think that just adding myself to the sudo group would cause said behavior.
However, after deleting myself from sudo I did this
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root@JohnBoy:/home/john# deluser john sudo
/usr/sbin/deluser: The user `john' is not a member of group `sudo'.
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john@JohnBoy:~$ sudo apt-get update
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie InRelease
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie-updates InRelease
Hit http://security.debian.org jessie/updates InRel
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- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
All is okay. I rebooted and, as best I can tell, everything works as it should. Probably all operator error, though I really don't know what I may have done. Thanks for the help fellas. We can consider this closed.
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- eor2004
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Re: Passwords messed up
I have added my user account password to use as "sudo" by doing "adduser myusername sudo" and removed myself "deluser myusername sudo" a couple of times without any trouble, by doing an "deluser myusername sudo" you're telling your system to stop using your user account password as if it were your root password and start using again your real root password you had setup when installing debian.
P.S. A "logout" or a "reboot" maybe needed afterwards.
P.S. A "logout" or a "reboot" maybe needed afterwards.
Debian 12 Gnome on a MSI H61M-P25 (B3) PC & on a Dell Latitude E6410 & HP EliteBook 8540p Laptops.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
- GarryRicketson
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Re: Passwords messed up
Nothing is messed up,...a normal user can not start synaptic, it either needs to be root, and using root password.ticojohn wrote:As root, I enter synaptic and it opens.Code: Select all
john@JohnBoy:~$ synaptic bash: synaptic: command not found
Not sure what Garry's suggestion is. I read the link but don't see what actions I might take. And seeing that other programs, as mentioned previously, are also doing the same I wonder what might be messed up. Hope not to have to reinstall Jessie but will if necessary.
OR
Using sudo, and then the users password would be used.
Code: Select all
garry@debian:~$ synaptic
-bash: synaptic: command not found
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sudo synaptic
But any way, since you have removed the user from sudo, you won't be able to
use sudo any more.
Of course you can put the user back into the sudo group later if so desired.
The link I posted , goes to a very basic simple tutorial, on "sudo", that is where
I saw that it said,
It also tells about adding a user to sudo or removing a user from sudo, and other things about using sudo.Note that it is asking for your password, not the root password.
There never was anything wrong with your system to start with, the tutorial all though basic, would be easier to understand then the manual, but obviously you
did not really read it, nor the manual,....
ticojohn> Probably all operator error, though I really don't know what I may have done.
Probably ???, It definitely is , and there never really was anything wrong, it was because you did not know what you are doing, and when someone does not know what they are doing, they certainly should not be doing things as root, or even using sudo,...
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
Garry,
Thanks so much for the kind words. I did read the link and I do understand the difference between using su and sudo, thank you very much. My issue was that never before, when selecting Synaptic from the applications menu, had the system required me to enter my user password instead of the root password. Be that as it may I will carry on. Thanks for all of the positive remarks.
Perhaps the reason it happened is that after adding myself to the sudo group, certain items in the Application Menu>System would then request my user password. Seems odd to me but perhaps that's just the way it is.
From my point of view, if I am invoking Synaptic from a terminal then using my user password, if invoked using sudo, is okay. However, I would think that when selecting from the menu that it would want my root password. However, I can maybe understand that when logged in, and as part of the sudo group, perhaps the system is looking for the user password to open Synaptic. I think that having that kind of access would allow someone other than myself, if the computer was unattended and not locked, to be able to use Synaptic without my knowing it. For instance, in a terminal one could enter
and it would open. No password required.
Thanks so much for the kind words. I did read the link and I do understand the difference between using su and sudo, thank you very much. My issue was that never before, when selecting Synaptic from the applications menu, had the system required me to enter my user password instead of the root password. Be that as it may I will carry on. Thanks for all of the positive remarks.
Perhaps the reason it happened is that after adding myself to the sudo group, certain items in the Application Menu>System would then request my user password. Seems odd to me but perhaps that's just the way it is.
From my point of view, if I am invoking Synaptic from a terminal then using my user password, if invoked using sudo, is okay. However, I would think that when selecting from the menu that it would want my root password. However, I can maybe understand that when logged in, and as part of the sudo group, perhaps the system is looking for the user password to open Synaptic. I think that having that kind of access would allow someone other than myself, if the computer was unattended and not locked, to be able to use Synaptic without my knowing it. For instance, in a terminal one could enter
Code: Select all
gksu synaptic
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- eor2004
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Re: Passwords messed up
Yes, this is the way the system should behave after adding yourself as "sudo".ticojohn wrote:Perhaps the reason it happened is that after adding myself to the sudo group, certain items in the Application Menu>System would then request my user password. Seems odd to me but perhaps that's just the way it is.
Debian 12 Gnome on a MSI H61M-P25 (B3) PC & on a Dell Latitude E6410 & HP EliteBook 8540p Laptops.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
- ticojohn
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Re: Passwords messed up
Well, now I know. Good to have a definitive answer instead of telling me to go read something that may, or may not, answer my question.eor2004 wrote:Yes, this is the way the system should behave after adding yourself as "sudo".ticojohn wrote:Perhaps the reason it happened is that after adding myself to the sudo group, certain items in the Application Menu>System would then request my user password. Seems odd to me but perhaps that's just the way it is.
I usually do try to read and understand prior to asking a question here. Thanks for your feedback.
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.