How to Reset Forgotten Root Password in Ubuntu

In this article, you will learn how to reset the forgotten root password on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Firstly, you need to either power on or reboot your Ubuntu system. You should get a grub menu as shown below. If you are running your system on VirtualBox, press the ‘SHIFT’ key on the keyboard to bring up the boot menu.

Ubuntu Grub Menu
Ubuntu Grub Menu

Next, press the 'e' key to edit the grub parameters. This should display a screen as shown below.

Grub Boot Parameters
Grub Boot Parameters

Scroll down until you get to the line that begins with 'linux /boot/vmlinuz' the entire line is highlighted below.

Find Grub Boot Parameter
Find Grub Boot Parameter

Narrow down to a section that reads "ro quiet splash $vt_handoff".

Locate Grub Boot Parameter
Locate Grub Boot Parameter

Replace "ro quiet splash $vt_handoff" with rw init=/bin/bash as shown. The aim is to set the root file system with read and write commands denoted by the rw prefix.

Enable Root Filesystem
Enable Root Filesystem

Thereafter, press ctrl + x or F10 to reboot your system. Your system will boot into a root shell screen as shown below. You can confirm that the root filesystem had read and write access rights by running the command.

# mount | grep -w /

The output in the screenshot below confirms read and write access rights denoted by rw.

Confirm Root Filesytem Permissions
Confirm Root Filesytem Permissions

To reset the root password execute the command.

# passwd 

Provide a new password and confirm it. Thereafter, you will get a ‘password updated successfully’ notification.

Reset Root Password in Ubuntu
Reset Root Password in Ubuntu

With the root password successfully changed, reboot into your Ubuntu system by running the command.

# exec /sbin/init

Thank you for coming this far. We hope that you can now comfortably reset the forgotten root password on your Ubuntu system from the grub menu.

James Kiarie
This is James, a certified Linux administrator and a tech enthusiast who loves keeping in touch with emerging trends in the tech world. When I'm not running commands on the terminal, I'm taking listening to some cool music. taking a casual stroll or watching a nice movie.

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25 thoughts on “How to Reset Forgotten Root Password in Ubuntu”

  1. After the reboot step, the Acer laptop continues to slowly scroll : { 3765. etc nonstop with the first numbers increasing in value? Let it run all night and still the laptop is scrolling. Redid it all after shutting down and restarting, Followed the directions again, and once more it is doing the same thing.

    Any ideas? I thought it would finally come to an end – but it sure doesn’t look like it. How long should this part of the process continue? Days?

    Reply
  2. Thanks much for this article,

    I made the mistake of changing the username when installing the virtual machine, so that name was not included in sudoers and I didn’t have the root password. Reboot, reset root PW, visudo, and add the correct user (I use NOPASSWD:ALL since it’s a VM on a laptop just for utility) reboot again, and “all better now.” :-)

    Reply
  3. I have problems after pressing F10. The system boots and prompts “root@(none):/#” but I lost keyboard, so I can’t input anything at all.

    The system is up, if I plug/unplug the usb keyboard it’s detected on linux (ubuntu) and shows on the screen. The only thing I guess it may be related to the keyboard, it is a wireless one, so maybe, just maybe, it needs some additional drivers.

    I’ll try with a wired and tell you if it works.

    If any have a hint, it will be appreciated.

    Reply
        • My screen showing the password is updated successfully. But when I log in after reboot, the screen showing an incorrect password. And i am using 20.04 LTS Ubuntu

          Reply
          • Maybe you mistyped a character or two. Try the password reset again and write down what it is. Then when you try to log in, you know exactly what to type.

            Or you can start using a Password Manager. No matter what you type for a password, the PM will remember for you.

          • While changing the passwd use below commands,
            -> check the username
            ls /home
            -> now use this username(ubuntu) to change the passwd
            passwd ubuntu
            enter the new passwd.
            And follow the steps from this website to proceed next.

    • Hey Moses, if you are not in a virtualized environment – that is if you are running Ubuntu in a physical or bare metal system – then the grub menu should pop up without any difficulties.

      Reply
  4. I can’t reset my password in ubuntu18.04. I have like that “ro quiet splash acpi_osi= $vt_handoff“.

    Not the same with you. So I replace all like that ~

    From => ro quiet splash acpi_osi= $vt_handoff
    T0     => rw init=/bin/bash
    

    But is still does not work.
    I cannot understand why i have “acpi_osi= “.

    Reply
  5. Thank you for your article!

    It seems to me, there is a mistake after “To reset the root password execute the command.” The command “passwd” should be inserted in a string instead of “passed”.

    Reply
  6. “To reset the root password execute the command.

    # passed
    

    I think you mean “passwd” and not “passed“. Letters “w” and “e” are next to each other in the keyboard.

    Reply
  7. To reset the root password execute the command.

    # passed
    

    Don’t you mean:

    # passwd
    

    Finger check – the “e” and “w” keys are next to each other.

    Reply

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