Login username and password in Acer One

Discussion in 'Acer Aspire One' started by criskeune, Sep 11, 2008.

  1. criskeune

    criskeune

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    Hello!

    I have just bought this mini laptop, Acer Aspire One, AA110 model, with Linux Linpus installed. I have little knowledge about Linux and I did not understand why there is no "login system", with username and password, at the boot and start (as in Windows or even other Linux systems, like Suse). I don't know if there was a "first screen" to configure an username and password, since when I bought it from the store, the box was already opened, since the seller had made a RAM upgrade to 1GB RAM. I just know that when I press the "on/off" button, to initialize it, there is no login box for username and password. I thought this is vaery dangerous for security reasons, so I would like to know if someone can explain me more about this.

    Thanks in advance,

    Cristina
     
    criskeune, Sep 11, 2008
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  2. criskeune

    Japser

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    AFAIK, on the One there is one user, simply called 'user'.
    Login is automatic, as this user.
    This user is in a group called 'wheel'.
    And wheel is in the sudoers file.

    from /etc/group :
    and from /etc/sudoers :
    ( I took this from a copy of a restore-dvd. )

    I have no idea what this means for security, I think the Acer/Linpus people wanted it to be as little frustrating as possible.

    --Japser.
     
    Japser, Sep 12, 2008
    #2
  3. criskeune

    N6546R

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    N6546R, Sep 12, 2008
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  4. criskeune

    daldred

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    ..but before doing this, do you have a password?

    Just that if the vendor set one and didn't tell you, you'll be a bit stuck if you need it to get logged in!
     
    daldred, Sep 12, 2008
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  5. criskeune

    N6546R

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    The password is the one that you used during initial setup of your AA1.

    If you need to change or reset it, you can hit Alt-F2, then in the box that appears type:

    sudo passwd user

    And click 'Run in terminal'

    This will let you change the password.

    Perry
    www.kidpub.com
     
    N6546R, Sep 12, 2008
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  6. criskeune

    daldred

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    Well, yes: but the OP did say that the setup had already been done before she received the machine - so she didn't do the initial setup.
     
    daldred, Sep 12, 2008
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  7. criskeune

    N6546R

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    You should still be able to change the password with sudo, even if you don't know the user password.

    Perry
    www.kidpub.com
     
    N6546R, Sep 12, 2008
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  8. criskeune

    daldred

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    Good grief. You can, on the One, by default; that's not the Right Thing at all!

    I'd rather comment the line containing NOPASSWD out of my sudoers file; I don 't even want myself to have non-password root status! However, I'm wondering what this might break; are there things being run under sudo by Linpus which are critical to operation?
     
    daldred, Sep 12, 2008
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  9. criskeune

    N6546R

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    I don't think that any of the software uses sudo internally, it's really a user thing. You can test it easily enough, just edit sudoers as you suggest and see if anything breaks.

    You also can set a root password different from the user password...

    Code:
    su -
    passwd
    
    Perry
    www.kdpub.com
     
    N6546R, Sep 13, 2008
    #9
  10. criskeune

    criskeune

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    Well, I have done this, and I could change the password (at least, the script in the terminal allowed it) ... BUT, but, but .... when I tried to add software (in the so called "advanced mode" - right click menu), the dialog box asks me the "root" password". It says: "You are attempting to run 'pirut' which requires administrative privileges, but more information is needed to do so. Authenticating as 'root':" (and then there is a box for the password) .. Well, my "brand new" password, which I got with that SUDO command, does note work in this case! ... bleeehhhh!
     
    criskeune, Sep 14, 2008
    #10
  11. criskeune

    scottro

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    Easy enough to fix.

    sudo su -
    Assuming you've set sudo to require a password for such things, put in your password.

    Now you are root and can set the root password.

    passwd

    It will ask you to enter a password, then to enter it again to make sure you didn't mistype.

    Now you have a root password that you can use for such things.
     
    scottro, Sep 14, 2008
    #11
  12. criskeune

    mikeonthemarne

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    I'm at this point too. As a total Linux newbie (I'm a Mac user & not ashamed of it!), I'd like:

    A/ to be able to throw out unwanted software, such as Games, in order to free up space on the the flash "HD" and add new stuff, such as Skype;
    B/ to secure my system against undesirables;

    for both of these requirements, I apparently need root user access and, try as I might, i can't seem to find how to get this for the AA1, and I don't seem to be the only one. Any useful advice would be welcome.
     
    mikeonthemarne, Sep 24, 2008
    #12
  13. criskeune

    Grim Squeaker

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    Just typing:

    Code:
    sudo passwd
    Will allow you tochange the password for root, without having to know the current password.
    Yes - the default security of the One is indeed pathetic.

    Fortunately, truecrypt can be installed to at least protect some data ;)
     
    Grim Squeaker, Sep 24, 2008
    #13
  14. criskeune

    wjwolff

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    Just a heads-up on setting passwords:

    Just got my Acer w/ Win Xp yesterday, and went to the BIOS set-up to set a password. Saved-on-exit, but then could not log-on with my new password on re-start....w.t.f? ....THE BIOS HAD SAVED MY NEW PASSWORD WITH CAPS-LOCK ON ! Don't remember seeing the caps-lock activated when I set the password, so don't know how it happened.
    Logged-in w/ caps-lock on, and voila!! ......I was sweatin' for a while there.....

    W14

    UPDATE: I just tried to set the password to what I really wanted, making sure the caps-lock was off for the new one - guess what, it saved it again w/ caps-lock on, even though it was shown as OFF.
     
    wjwolff, Sep 24, 2008
    #14
  15. criskeune

    Grim Squeaker

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    After flashing the BIOS to the newest version, the caps lock problem is solved.

    Well ok - not solved. The system just does not care about case anymore - so PASSWD, passwd, PaSSwd and PAsswd would all be considered to be the same.
     
    Grim Squeaker, Sep 24, 2008
    #15
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