How do you change root password in linux

How to change root password on Debian Linux

How to change root password on Debian Linux

The procedure for changing the password of root is as follows:

1. First, log in to the Debian Linux server using ssh or console
2. Open a shell prompt and type the passwd command to change root password in Debian Linux
3. The actual command to change the password for root on Debian Linux is sudo passwd root

NOTE: Please note that [vivek@debian-linux9:

]$ is my shell prompt. You need to type commands after the $ prompt.

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Debian Linux change root password command

I am going to log in to my Debian Linux 7.x/8.x/9.x server using the ssh command:
ssh vivek@debian-linux9
Once logged in enter the command passwd as follows:
[vivek@debian-linux9:

]$ sudo passwd root
First you need to type the password for vivek user. After that the passwd command asks for the new password, which you will have to enter two times:

Changing root account passwords on a Debian Linux based system

Slightly different procedure for changing passwords in Debian Linux

One can use the following procedure too:
[vivek@debian-linux9:

]$ ssh user@your-centos-server-name-ip
Become a root user via the su command or sudo command:
[vivek@debian-linux9:

]$ sudo -i
OR
[vivek@debian-linux9:

]$ su —
Finally change your root user password:
passwd

Conclusion

This page explained the process for changing the password of root user using the passwd command on a Debian Linux server 9.x. For more info see man page of the passwd command by typing the following man command:
man 5 passwd
man passwd
man 5 shadow

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How to change root password in Ubuntu Linux

I am a new Ubuntu Linux server admin. How can I change root password in Ubuntu Linux server using the bash shell over ssh based session?

By default, the root user account password is locked in Ubuntu Linux for security reasons. As a result, you can not login using root user or use a command such as ‘su -‘ to become a SuperUser.

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	Ubuntu
Est. reading time	1m

You need to use the passwd command to change the password for user accounts on Ubuntu Linux. A typical user can only change the password for his/her account only. A SuperUser (root) can change the password for any user account. Your user account info stored in /etc/passswd and an encrypted password stored in /etc/shadow file.

How to change root password in Ubuntu

The procedure to change the root user password on Ubuntu Linux:

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1. Type the following command to become root user and issue passwd:
   sudo -i
   passwd
2. OR set a password for root user in a single go:
   sudo passwd root
3. Test it your root password by typing the following command:
   su —

How to disable your root account on Ubuntu

One can disable the root account by typing the following command:
$ sudo passwd -dl root
OR
$ sudo passwd —delete —lock root
Sample session from the above commands:

Understanding passwd command option

• -d OR —delete : Delete a user’s password (make it empty for root user). This is a quick way to disable a password for an account. It will set the named account passwordless.
• -l OR —lock : Lock the password of the named account such as root. This option disables a password by changing it to a value which matches no possible encrypted value (it adds a ‘!’ at the beginning of the password)
• root : Lock and disble root account i.e. re-disabling your root account

A note about root password on an Ubuntu server/desktop

Enabling the root account by setting the password is not needed. Almost everything you need to do as SuperUser (root) of an Ubuntu server can be done using sudo command. For example, restart apache server:
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2
You can add additional user to sudo by typing the following command:
$ sudo adduser sudo
For example, add a user named tom to sudo:
$ sudo adduser tom sudo
You can in as another user say logging as tom from jerry account:
< jerry@nixcraft >$ sudo -i -u tom
When prompted enter jerry’s password i.e. the password being asked for is your own, not tom’s. For more info see “How to create a new sudo user on Ubuntu Linux server” and RootSudo.

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How to Change root Password on Linux

The root account has the ability to control anything on a Unix system, and Linux is no different. One has to use the passwd command to change Linux password data, and the same goes for root. Due to the special nature of this command, some precautions do apply. Notably, it’s not possible to change Linux password data for the root user readily on an Ubuntu or Ubuntu spin system without first making some changes.

A majority of users who want to change Linux password data will need to open a graphical terminal. You can hold down Ctrl, Alt and T to do so or perhaps click on the Applications menu, head to system tools and select terminal. CentOS users who don’t have a graphical interface installed will want to log into their virtual terminal with a user account, assuming they have the sudo packages updated.

Method 1: Change root Password on Most Linux Distributions

Assuming your distribution has the sudo package installed, you can change the root passwd with the sudo passwd root command. You’ll be asked for your sudo password first, and then you’ll have to enter a new UNIX password twice. Your password will be tested for complexity, so you’ll want to make sure that it’s good. Once you’ve entered the password in twice, your root account should be changed. Hold down Ctrl and Alt then push F1-F6 to get to an empty virtual terminal. Type root and then the new password to make sure it works. Considering the hazards related to working as root, make sure to type exit to get out of this console. Hold down Ctrl, Alt and F7 to get back to your graphical environment if you’re not working from a server. This method should work on Debian and many other distributions. It should also work with Arch if you have the all the prerequisite packages installed.

Method 2: Change root Password on Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu and its various derivatives hash out the root account, which functionally disables it. You won’t be able to readily change out the password of the root user because it doesn’t really exist. This is true for Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu and potentially most installations of Linux Mint and Trisquel. While it’s possible to activate the account, it’s not at all recommended. Keep in mind that your first user on these systems is an administrator and can access a root account by typing sudo -i at the prompt and entering your password. This works the same as any other root login, and it’s a good bit safer. If you’re absolutely certain that you want to activate the root account and understand the risks involved, then type sudo passwd root and push enter. Enter a new UNIX password and make sure you don’t forget it. You’ll then need to run sudo passwd -u root to unlock your account. You’ll get a message that reads something like “password expiry information changed,” which means you’ve opened the account. The root user will work like normal, but please keep in mind just how dangerous this actually is. When you want to disable the root account, you can type sudo passwd -dl root to lock it up again.

Method 3: Change Linux Password Data as root

If you’re logged in as root say on a CentOS, Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux server’s virtual terminal, then you can change the password simply by typing passwd and then pushing enter. You’ll receive a prompt that reads “Enter new UNIX password:” and then you’ll be asked to type it a second time. Keep in mind that you should have actually logged into root in order to do this, or perhaps used sudo su to access a root prompt. This won’t work on an unaltered Ubuntu or Linux Mint system, but it’s good for those running server systems or using ssh to log into ones remotely. Make sure before you try this that you have # as the symbol in your prompt. Depending on the default login shell set for root, the prompt may have other bits of information in it.

Remember that regardless of what method or which distribution you’re working on, you can also type whoami and push enter to find out who you’re logged in as.

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How To Linux Set or Change User Password

Linux Set User Password

Type following passwd command to change your own password:
$ passwd
Sample Outputs:

The user is first prompted for his/her old password if one is present. This password is then encrypted and compared against the stored password. The user has only one chance to enter the correct password. The super user is permitted to bypass this step so that forgotten passwords may be changed. A new password is tested for complexity. As a general guideline, passwords should consist of 10 to 20 characters including one or more from each of following sets:

1. Lower case alphabetics
2. Upper case alphabetics
3. Digits 0 thru 9
4. Punctuation marks/spacial characters

Linux change password for other user account

You need to login as the root user, type the following command to change password for user vivek:
# passwd vivek
OR
$ sudo passwd vivek
Sample putput:

• vivek – is username or account name.

Passwords do not display to the screen when you enter them. For example:

Linux changing user password using passwd

Linux Change Group Password

When the -g option is used, the password for the named group is changed. In this example, change password for group sales:
# passwd -g sales
The current group password is not prompted for. The -r option is used with the -g option to remove the current password from the named group. This allows group access to all members. The -R option is used with the -g option to restrict the named group for all users.

Changing user passwords on Linux

As a Linux system administrator (sysadmin) you can change password for any users on your server. To change a password on behalf of a user:

1. First sign on or “su” or “sudo” to the “root” account on Linux, run: sudo -i
2. Then type, passwd tom to change a password for tom user
3. The system will prompt you to enter a password twice

To change or set a new root (superuser) password type:
$ sudo passwd

Forcing Linux user to change password at their next login

By default, Linux passwords never expire for users. However, we can force users to change their password the next time they log in via GUI or CLI methods. The syntax is straightforward:
$ sudo passwd -e
$ sudo passwd —expire
Let us immediately expire an account’s password:
$ sudo passwd -e marlena
The system will confirm it:

When user try to login via ssh command, they will see the following on screen:

Locking and Unlocking user password of the named account

Note that the following local command does not disable the account. The user may still be able to login using another authentication token, such as an SSH key. To disable the account, administrators should use either usermod —expiredate 1 or sudo passwd —expire command. Also, users with a locked password are not allowed to change their password to get around the security policy set by sysadmin.

We can lock the password as follows:
$ sudo passwd -l
This option disables a password by changing it to a value which matches no possible encrypted value (it adds a ! at the beginning of the password in the /etc/shadow file. Want to unlock the password, try:
$ sudo passwd -u
The above command option re-enables a password by changing the password back to its previous value. In other words, to the value before using the -l option.

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A note about setting up a secure Linux password

Compromises in password security typically result from careless password selection. Avoid common password such as:

1. Words which appears in a dictionary
2. Your first and last name
3. Pet names
4. Kids or spouses names
5. License number
6. Date of birth (DoB)
7. Home or office address

I strongly recommend that you generate a unique password for all user accounts using your chosen password manager.

Conclusion

The passwd command line utility is used to update or change user’s password. The encrypted password is stored in /etc/shadow file and account information is in /etc/passwd file. To see all user account try grep command or cat command as follows:
$ cat /etc/passwd
$ grep ‘^userNameHere’ /etc/passwd
$ grep ‘^tom’ /etc/passwd
The guidance given in this quick tutorial should work with any Linux distribution, including Alpine, Arch, Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, Fedora, Oracle CentOS, SUSE/OpenSUSE and other popular Linux distros.

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