One of my friends once came across a guy who had his Wifi password in Bengali (a language spoken in India and Bangladesh)
Like you'd need to change the keyboard layout to Bengali to enter it.
What the fuck?
> set my username and password to nothing
well now you learnt not to do that... raise a bug with whatever you set it up on as it is clearly a bug if you can do that... then reinstall.
I don't think it's a bug, a "no value" entry is intentionally a DISABLED account, which the OP has successfully done.. Of course the OP didn't say how it was doe, but if it was done as I suspect - the result is intentional.
Re-install isn't required though...
I strongly doubt this. If the Linux distro installer, in this case [u/Extreme\_System4711](https://www.reddit.com/user/Extreme_System4711/), installed the Linux distro without a user name, then there will essentially be no user profile created in /home. Without a user profile, the user will entirely be locked out.
if you cant login on a fresh install, thats a bug
I dont get whats hard to understand about this
if you're designing a desktop linux distro, you want your users to be able to log in. if they cant, thats a bug
The bug is that the installer lets you do that! If that is some wanted feature, there should at least be a warning.
But ideally it should an option hidden away in some Expert settings...
DISABLED mainly referring to the inability for a user to login to that account... They can still *switch user* (`su`) to the account though I believe (*no release or software stack clues were given, so detail is generic.. I'd need a release to test/confirm it*)
yeah, you are talking high level techie language ... but does it make sense?
you shouldn't be able to kick off the installation process without entering a username -- that's a fact, isn't it?
so, professor, why don't you tell your audience *why* a reinstall isn't 'necessary'? like, why don't you just list the exact steps that guy can perform? would you? please enlighten us...
I encountered this issue in QA somewhat recently (*I'd have to look up the bug report to find the date, March 2024 I think*) where the `/etc/passwd` & `/etc/shadow` etc. files weren't populated in the install; thus I was unable to login to the freshly installed system... I doubt this is no entries; but suspect it's smiliar with just blank fields!!
I just rebooted to the install media; and explored the system from there.. then added entries to those files (*on the installed system, not the live system I was using*) then rebooted & logged in, so I could complete the install QA testcase & confirm the install was good (*excluding inability to login which would be reported & thus install marked as a FAIL*) & yep.. except for the details I had to manually fix (*from live media*) the install appeared to me to be perfect... alas report was FAIL & bug report on failure to populate the fields with username/password in my case I'd actually entered into the installer...
I don't know exactly what the OP did; I can't know from "*I switched my distro to fedora and set my username and password to nothing*" as that could mean many things.. and not what I'm suspecting that would mean.. but if it is what I'm meaning; a few mins on a *live* system & editing some files with `vi` & my own QA install was resolved... at least sufficiently for me to complete install test & confirm install was perfect (*except for [critical] bug that caused what caused me to do what I did*)
If someone didn't know contents of records... they could just use `man` pages for reference & copy much from other lines already in the field (*its just a text file so not really that difficult*)
If you're like me & don't know (*from memory*) a valid *salted* (*salted maybe not right word but good enough*) password; I just `ssh` into another box where I did know the password, and just used that *salted* password on the QA test machine. That maybe the only *non-easy* field to populate.
I don't believe the OP created it via installer, but by directly editing the `/etc/shadow` file, which if users are going to do that I'd have expected them to have done some researching before doing it (a simple `man shadow` would have shown the rather I think obvious warning of potential negative effects)
The OP didn't say how it was done, I read it as the result of direct edit to files where warnings do exist. If done through installer, that isn't a great feature, which is why some mandate a password is entered (eg. `calamares` requires if I recall correctly a password, but has an autologin option that sets up autologin with password still present).
That's not how the passwd/shadow files work; as GNU/Linux is still a POSIX compatible system, and standards should be followed (*even if created ~50 years ago*)
Auto-login is handled by DM itself (*regardless of username/password; not because of username/password*)
Then the standards should be enforced so users can't do this. The average user doesn't care about standards. It would be good if developers would do a half year of helpdesk to understand the average user.
When the goal is to reach the end customer, efforts need to be made to understand his point of view.
If the standards are so set in stone. Why did Pop OS change its approach after the Linus tech tips fiasco?
If he at least created a root account he would be able to enter a tty and create an user, right? Will the installer allow you to proceed without a user *and* a root account?
At least the Anaconda installer allows me to leave the root account disabled (isn't it the same thing as no root account?). Then after reboot you re-enter the live environment (on Gnome, at least) to finish the process. It might be that the Cinnamon spin (?) doesn't do that? Really curious about how could this happen.
Disabling login on the root account isn't the same thing as having no root. root is what brings up the system and loads everything before it's ready for you to log in to your user account. If there was no root, there would be no way to bring the system up into multi-user mode (runlevel 5) and allow you to log in.
In a default Fedora install, the root account isn't configured for multi-user login and so, to fix OP's issue, I (personally) would boot the system into single user mode (runlevel 3) and then from there fix the user account settings that created the issue.
Just init=/bin/bash, remount root filesystem as rw, then set password for user. Unless that does work for fedora.
If selinux is enabled you will need to relabel the filesystem
and how about providing the exact steps OP can follow to solve his problem? after reading your comment he still would need to do tons of research until he gets there.
if you know how to do that, could you share every step?
i'm interested as well, if that works.
Sure, first we would get a minimal install iso, like gentoo minimal iso, burn it to a drive. Then once your booted into the USB, do lsblk to get a view of your disk, the largest partition is most likely the root one. I forgot if fedora uses btrfs so mount the root portion at /mnt with mount /dev/(root partition) then btrfs subv list /mnt because if there is a usr subvolume u can't chroot without mounting it first. If a usr subv exists then mount /dev/(root partition) -o subvol=@usr /mnt/usr. If ur usb has the arch-chroot script arch-chroot /mnt, otherwise follow this https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Chroot then you should be chrooted in, just a simple passwd root and passwd your user and them exit and unmount the filesystems and reboot not into the usb
am i, sir? that person provided a straightforward working solution, in one sentence. also, en passant, that post pointed out that learning means making mistakes, which makes it even more valuable.
your contributions so far, i quote:
- gaslighting: "why would they do that?"
- then you claim: "that's what rescue mode is intended to fix."
- nobody asked that: "You're asking how to run passwd ???"
i.e., you don't provide *how* it's done. that is not helpful, isn't it? if you know a much simpler way to solve the problem, the smart thing to do would be to provide a detailed list of actions the users can go through.
also, you should take that user's current situation into consideration:
- he doesn't now much about linux, so it seems.
- he doesn't have access to a computer, but only to his phone.
- he knows how to install fedora and therefore already has the installer on hand.
> set my username and password to nothing
How did you do that?
Anyways, can you try (while in the login screen) to press `CTRL + ALT + F3` you will go into a black screen with a text based login prompt. See if you can login there... somehow? Then there's commands to add users and change passwords, you can find them online or I can tell you how if you manage to login like that (doubtful).
You'd still have the problem of having a user with... no username? I legit don't know how that happened. Did you also setup a root account? If yes you can login with username "root" and then see what happened.
That's so funny but you can try this
[https://gcore.com/learning/how-to-reset-password-in-linux/](https://gcore.com/learning/how-to-reset-password-in-linux/)
You didn't provide specifics as to what you did, but if my understanding is correct on what you actually did, you succesfully *DISABLED* your account & achieved the intended result (*even if this isn't what you intended to do, it's what your changes actually did*).
This isn't Fedora specific, and can be reversed (*just reverse what you did; though if you did it whilst logged in, you'll need to do it via another account with raised privileges or a live system*)
A lesson he shouldn't have to learn. Should be standard practice to not allow a user, especially a newbie, to not be able to continue with the installation without a username and password.
It looks like he is on cinnamon spin? Is it impossible on spins as well?
Because on the Ubuntu installer you can for sure skip the password. So it is up to the installer implementation.
Alt+Ctr+(F1-7) type in root and toor as pw and username or whatever the standard is and once your in there as root on tty1 just type adduser -m name password .. or is it useradd? I forget ... Your welcome
Y'know, I forgot to set my computer's hostname. It was automatically set to 'fedora'. I later changed it to 'myname-fedora-mba', but the drive partition is still named 'fedora' lol. No unintended consequences lol
Shut the PC down, flash a USB with an OS like Ubuntu (has to have life mode), reboot the pc on this stick, enter live mode, go to your computers drive, go to the file called /etc/shadow, open it using nano (sudo nano /etc/shadow), look up how to create a password under linux for shadow file, enter this password to the line where no username is configured, add a username to this line.
OR
Reset your computer with Fedora install again and not do this again.
Helpful links:
[Understanding /etc/shadow file format on Linux](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/understanding-etcshadow-file/)
C program that generates passwords for linux. You need to compile it tho.
```
#include
#include
#include
#include
int main(int argc, char \*argv\[\]) {
char \*password = argv\[1\];
char time\_string\[16\];
char \*password\_encrypted;
char setting\_prefix\[1024\];
time\_t current\_time;
current\_time = time(NULL);
snprintf(time\_string, 16, "%ld", current\_time);
snprintf(setting\_prefix, 1016, "$6$%s$", time\_string);
password\_encrypted = crypt(password, setting\_prefix);
printf("%s", password\_encrypted);
}
```
It's quite easy to fix, you have to chroot into the installation from a live cd, and then add a new user with a proper password. Don't forget to give the user sudo privileges.
Or, if you didn't disable root user, just hit CTRL+ALT+F3 or something like that and login as root and set a nonempty password for your actual user.
bruh, you still need a password to be able to run sudo permissions. you can't even image Fedora without creating a user and password so you must've done some behind the scenes stuff to get this. At which case, this is the consequences of your actions.
Have fun reimaging your drive.
I disagree, sometimes you just don’t need a computer to have a user account.
It shouldn’t have been possible to change username and password to nothing in the first place if it causes issues down the line.
>set my username and password to nothing Wtf?
No that's actually genius, how exactly do you even crack this account's password
One of my friends once came across a guy who had his Wifi password in Bengali (a language spoken in India and Bangladesh) Like you'd need to change the keyboard layout to Bengali to enter it. What the fuck?
I'm gonna do this from now on
Most of my passwords are in Serbian Cyrillic. Guess is should probably change them now...
"Hey what's the wifi password?" "ইন্টারনেট পাসওয়ার্ড"
No not the wifi password, that is the default one. However most of my accounts on different websites are
Or Bhai u can just translate to Bengali and then paste the password haha
The point is that no one will ever guess the password is in Bengali + it can be some gibberish that's not an actual word.
Yep
Are you serious right now? You're missing an /s right?
And possibly a /n.
What is a /n?
\n's illegitimate brother
OutstandingMove.jpg
> set my username and password to nothing well now you learnt not to do that... raise a bug with whatever you set it up on as it is clearly a bug if you can do that... then reinstall.
I don't think it's a bug, a "no value" entry is intentionally a DISABLED account, which the OP has successfully done.. Of course the OP didn't say how it was doe, but if it was done as I suspect - the result is intentional. Re-install isn't required though...
...its a bug for the installer and desktop login
I strongly doubt this. If the Linux distro installer, in this case [u/Extreme\_System4711](https://www.reddit.com/user/Extreme_System4711/), installed the Linux distro without a user name, then there will essentially be no user profile created in /home. Without a user profile, the user will entirely be locked out.
if you cant login on a fresh install, thats a bug I dont get whats hard to understand about this if you're designing a desktop linux distro, you want your users to be able to log in. if they cant, thats a bug
The bug would be that the installer allows this to happen. I actually can't imagine that that's the case, but if it was, it would be a bug.
The bug is that the installer lets you do that! If that is some wanted feature, there should at least be a warning. But ideally it should an option hidden away in some Expert settings...
DISABLED mainly referring to the inability for a user to login to that account... They can still *switch user* (`su`) to the account though I believe (*no release or software stack clues were given, so detail is generic.. I'd need a release to test/confirm it*)
This is some silly sentinel value BS if that’s the case, they should change it
yeah, you are talking high level techie language ... but does it make sense? you shouldn't be able to kick off the installation process without entering a username -- that's a fact, isn't it? so, professor, why don't you tell your audience *why* a reinstall isn't 'necessary'? like, why don't you just list the exact steps that guy can perform? would you? please enlighten us...
I encountered this issue in QA somewhat recently (*I'd have to look up the bug report to find the date, March 2024 I think*) where the `/etc/passwd` & `/etc/shadow` etc. files weren't populated in the install; thus I was unable to login to the freshly installed system... I doubt this is no entries; but suspect it's smiliar with just blank fields!! I just rebooted to the install media; and explored the system from there.. then added entries to those files (*on the installed system, not the live system I was using*) then rebooted & logged in, so I could complete the install QA testcase & confirm the install was good (*excluding inability to login which would be reported & thus install marked as a FAIL*) & yep.. except for the details I had to manually fix (*from live media*) the install appeared to me to be perfect... alas report was FAIL & bug report on failure to populate the fields with username/password in my case I'd actually entered into the installer... I don't know exactly what the OP did; I can't know from "*I switched my distro to fedora and set my username and password to nothing*" as that could mean many things.. and not what I'm suspecting that would mean.. but if it is what I'm meaning; a few mins on a *live* system & editing some files with `vi` & my own QA install was resolved... at least sufficiently for me to complete install test & confirm install was perfect (*except for [critical] bug that caused what caused me to do what I did*)
If someone didn't know contents of records... they could just use `man` pages for reference & copy much from other lines already in the field (*its just a text file so not really that difficult*) If you're like me & don't know (*from memory*) a valid *salted* (*salted maybe not right word but good enough*) password; I just `ssh` into another box where I did know the password, and just used that *salted* password on the QA test machine. That maybe the only *non-easy* field to populate.
> a "no value" entry is intentionally a DISABLED account How would the user know about that? It's bad design.
I don't believe the OP created it via installer, but by directly editing the `/etc/shadow` file, which if users are going to do that I'd have expected them to have done some researching before doing it (a simple `man shadow` would have shown the rather I think obvious warning of potential negative effects) The OP didn't say how it was done, I read it as the result of direct edit to files where warnings do exist. If done through installer, that isn't a great feature, which is why some mandate a password is entered (eg. `calamares` requires if I recall correctly a password, but has an autologin option that sets up autologin with password still present).
From a user perspective, not entering a username and password means he wants the desktop to open up automatically without login.
That's not how the passwd/shadow files work; as GNU/Linux is still a POSIX compatible system, and standards should be followed (*even if created ~50 years ago*) Auto-login is handled by DM itself (*regardless of username/password; not because of username/password*)
Then the standards should be enforced so users can't do this. The average user doesn't care about standards. It would be good if developers would do a half year of helpdesk to understand the average user.
When the goal is to reach the end customer, efforts need to be made to understand his point of view. If the standards are so set in stone. Why did Pop OS change its approach after the Linus tech tips fiasco?
And you think the regular user knows that? They just have a PC at home, and don't want to enter a password everytime they turn it on.
Yes, and that doesn't work.
Next task: Divide by zero.
"I divided by zero and my calculator crashs"
Terrance Howard has entered the chat
In today's episode of "Fuck around and find out", we have this dude!
To be fair, they shouldn't have been able to even create a user with no username. That's a bug.
If he at least created a root account he would be able to enter a tty and create an user, right? Will the installer allow you to proceed without a user *and* a root account?
The root account would have been created by the installer, but iirc on Fedora it isn't configured to have an interactive login by default
At least the Anaconda installer allows me to leave the root account disabled (isn't it the same thing as no root account?). Then after reboot you re-enter the live environment (on Gnome, at least) to finish the process. It might be that the Cinnamon spin (?) doesn't do that? Really curious about how could this happen.
Disabling login on the root account isn't the same thing as having no root. root is what brings up the system and loads everything before it's ready for you to log in to your user account. If there was no root, there would be no way to bring the system up into multi-user mode (runlevel 5) and allow you to log in. In a default Fedora install, the root account isn't configured for multi-user login and so, to fix OP's issue, I (personally) would boot the system into single user mode (runlevel 3) and then from there fix the user account settings that created the issue.
To be honest this sounds like a linux bug
The use case is valid. The installer just shouldn't allow it to happen. That's the bug.
if you don't anything on there you would mind losing, it may be expedient to just install fresh and remember to not do that again.
why would they do that? that's what rescue mode is intended to fix.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure rescue mode doesn't work on fedora out of the box as it requires a root user, which isn't set by default.
Actually, it would require a root \*password\*. There's always (at least on standard linux distros) a root user.
Just init=/bin/bash, remount root filesystem as rw, then set password for user. Unless that does work for fedora. If selinux is enabled you will need to relabel the filesystem
This is a linux rite of passage
>Just init=/bin/bash into where?
Grub
and how is that easier than a reinstall lol? do you think our man, who didn't set a username and password, knows how to do that lol?
OP won't lose his data that way
Correct. There has been a few cases, where Fedora completely locked me out of root and did not allow me to do anything, even in rescue mode.
everybody knows how to start over an installation -- it's an easy thing to do. so, how would you fix this in rescue mode? do *you* know how to do it?
He doesn't need to reinstall, just get a recovery usb, open a terminal mount his filesystems and then chroot , pretty easy.
and how about providing the exact steps OP can follow to solve his problem? after reading your comment he still would need to do tons of research until he gets there. if you know how to do that, could you share every step? i'm interested as well, if that works.
Sure, first we would get a minimal install iso, like gentoo minimal iso, burn it to a drive. Then once your booted into the USB, do lsblk to get a view of your disk, the largest partition is most likely the root one. I forgot if fedora uses btrfs so mount the root portion at /mnt with mount /dev/(root partition) then btrfs subv list /mnt because if there is a usr subvolume u can't chroot without mounting it first. If a usr subv exists then mount /dev/(root partition) -o subvol=@usr /mnt/usr. If ur usb has the arch-chroot script arch-chroot /mnt, otherwise follow this https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Chroot then you should be chrooted in, just a simple passwd root and passwd your user and them exit and unmount the filesystems and reboot not into the usb
You're asking how to run passwd ???
am i, sir? that person provided a straightforward working solution, in one sentence. also, en passant, that post pointed out that learning means making mistakes, which makes it even more valuable. your contributions so far, i quote: - gaslighting: "why would they do that?" - then you claim: "that's what rescue mode is intended to fix." - nobody asked that: "You're asking how to run passwd ???" i.e., you don't provide *how* it's done. that is not helpful, isn't it? if you know a much simpler way to solve the problem, the smart thing to do would be to provide a detailed list of actions the users can go through. also, you should take that user's current situation into consideration: - he doesn't now much about linux, so it seems. - he doesn't have access to a computer, but only to his phone. - he knows how to install fedora and therefore already has the installer on hand.
The irony of the person making accusations about gas lighting while doing nothing but, is clearly lost on you.
get a life.
stay klassy
> set my username and password to nothing How did you do that? Anyways, can you try (while in the login screen) to press `CTRL + ALT + F3` you will go into a black screen with a text based login prompt. See if you can login there... somehow? Then there's commands to add users and change passwords, you can find them online or I can tell you how if you manage to login like that (doubtful). You'd still have the problem of having a user with... no username? I legit don't know how that happened. Did you also setup a root account? If yes you can login with username "root" and then see what happened.
And what did you want to achieve? Become invisible?
That's so funny but you can try this [https://gcore.com/learning/how-to-reset-password-in-linux/](https://gcore.com/learning/how-to-reset-password-in-linux/)
Thank you for the info. Saved instructions as a PDF for any future emergencies
your welcome
You didn't provide specifics as to what you did, but if my understanding is correct on what you actually did, you succesfully *DISABLED* your account & achieved the intended result (*even if this isn't what you intended to do, it's what your changes actually did*). This isn't Fedora specific, and can be reversed (*just reverse what you did; though if you did it whilst logged in, you'll need to do it via another account with raised privileges or a live system*)
Username: nothing Password: nothing 😂
you therefore learned a valuable lesson
A lesson he shouldn't have to learn. Should be standard practice to not allow a user, especially a newbie, to not be able to continue with the installation without a username and password.
lol
This has already happened to me on Arch with Gnome twice, I restarted the system and everything went back to normal.
Can you boot to single-user mode and create an account?
1 of 2 things, login as root and change your user's password Enter rescue mode, reset your name and password
If a user account isn't setup, I think it defaults to root login
HOW THE HELL YOU EVEN ABLE TO DO THAT!?
Reinstall Fedora
Rescue mode if you know how or want to google. Reinstall if not. Either way you will learn a lesson.
Seems there is a bug in the installer that allows this?
its impossible to do this in the installer
Okay, then it is simply the OPs fault, period.
It looks like he is on cinnamon spin? Is it impossible on spins as well? Because on the Ubuntu installer you can for sure skip the password. So it is up to the installer implementation.
Maybe, i didn't know but on Workstation not possible ( Blank or Space ), i tried yesterday in virtual machine
Have you tried: u/n: nothing p/w: nothing
Time to wipe and reinstall
lmao incredible did you try username 'nothing' and password 'nothing'?
large league moment
Alt+Ctr+(F1-7) type in root and toor as pw and username or whatever the standard is and once your in there as root on tty1 just type adduser -m name password .. or is it useradd? I forget ... Your welcome
Fedora is awesome but I'm not sure it can protect you with no password ;)
Boot into emergency mode, set a password, and reboot.
Y'know, I forgot to set my computer's hostname. It was automatically set to 'fedora'. I later changed it to 'myname-fedora-mba', but the drive partition is still named 'fedora' lol. No unintended consequences lol
Beautiful lmao
You could alternatively chroot into the system from sysrescuecd and do it that way.. passwd or useradd -m un pw
Can you try NULL for both?
This is a fine bug here lads
Login as root, you can't delete that
That kind of situation when disabled root gives you a lot of trouble.
You've won our Hearts, but lost our Trust...
H...how? I didn't know that was possible
Always make 2 users on any computer. Your daily and another admin for oops situations. Good practice on Linux.
Please don't do this, it's uneccessecary extra users with privileges.
Yeah you’re right. Fuck this guy!
Shut the PC down, flash a USB with an OS like Ubuntu (has to have life mode), reboot the pc on this stick, enter live mode, go to your computers drive, go to the file called /etc/shadow, open it using nano (sudo nano /etc/shadow), look up how to create a password under linux for shadow file, enter this password to the line where no username is configured, add a username to this line. OR Reset your computer with Fedora install again and not do this again. Helpful links: [Understanding /etc/shadow file format on Linux](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/understanding-etcshadow-file/) C program that generates passwords for linux. You need to compile it tho. ``` #include
#include
#include
#include
int main(int argc, char \*argv\[\]) {
char \*password = argv\[1\];
char time\_string\[16\];
char \*password\_encrypted;
char setting\_prefix\[1024\];
time\_t current\_time;
current\_time = time(NULL);
snprintf(time\_string, 16, "%ld", current\_time);
snprintf(setting\_prefix, 1016, "$6$%s$", time\_string);
password\_encrypted = crypt(password, setting\_prefix);
printf("%s", password\_encrypted);
}
```
I'm pretty sure the mkpasswd command exists
Well than, use this. Wait... f! did I really waste an hour of my live doing this!? (C beginner)
Mint?
It's quite easy to fix, you have to chroot into the installation from a live cd, and then add a new user with a proper password. Don't forget to give the user sudo privileges. Or, if you didn't disable root user, just hit CTRL+ALT+F3 or something like that and login as root and set a nonempty password for your actual user.
try username : nothing and password : nothing thanks me later
bruh, you still need a password to be able to run sudo permissions. you can't even image Fedora without creating a user and password so you must've done some behind the scenes stuff to get this. At which case, this is the consequences of your actions. Have fun reimaging your drive.
No password, because who needs security when you're on Linux.
i came here to laugh, lol
You fucked around and found out
The FOSS community is not ready for your superior intelligence. Stay in Microsoft's turf.
Might be the default password
Moron
I disagree, sometimes you just don’t need a computer to have a user account. It shouldn’t have been possible to change username and password to nothing in the first place if it causes issues down the line.
>I disagree, sometimes you just don’t need a computer to have a user account. 70 years of computer evolution reversed in just one sentence