Retreiving a password in Linux

[Playa7926]

I have a box with Linux installed on it... i have a admin user and password but its been such a long time that i forget what they are... is there anyway of finding out what they are or how can i uninstall linux to put a windows based operating system on the machine?

thanks for your help

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

You can't "retrieve" it, but you could try to brute force it.

You don't need to uninstall linux, just install windows and it'll wipe it out for you.

 

[Playa7926]

aight thanks dude.. will try that a little later tonight

 

[chsh1ca]

You can also boot the machine up in single user mode from a bootloader by passing 'init=/bin/sh' as an argument. Then from there it's a simple 'passwd root' and you can enter a new password.

 

[dzt]

to retrieve password :

if you use grub as loader , from grub chose linux and then press "e",
then you'll find three line, move cursor to second line, then press "e"
add space and number one like this " 1" then press enter,
finally press "b" to boot.

now you'll get yourself powerfull enough than root.
type passwd or passw + tab if you're not sure, and then enter your new root password. you can add "root" or other user behind "passwd" (default : root).

if you use lilo, use lilo -s
then in the shell, type passwd

to uninstall linux :
use powerquest partition magic or paragon partitioner to erase linux partition and then restore the mbr.
or else use dos fdisk or harddisk manager to erase all installation on the disk.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Depending on how strong you typically set your passwords, you could use john to crack the password.

 

[Abzstrak]

no reason to crack the password, like other have said you just need root privledges and then change it. you can also boot off a linux cd, chroot into your install and change the password then.