Hard drive encrypted with Ubuntu, forgot password. Oops.
October 10, 2013 11:13 AM Subscribe
My netbook is running Ubuntu (11?). I set up hard drive encryption when I installed Ubuntu, and gave my hard drive the same password as my user account. Then I didn't use the netbook for several months and forgot the password. Help me make netbook go.
*I have the alphanumeric encryption key that I was told to save when I set up encryption.
*There's also no critically important data on the disk, overwriting it is fine. I just want to be able to use the computer again.
*Netbook is an asus eee pc from the seashell series.
*I tried to boot from a USB stick, but it didn't work.
*I am a noob, assume I need code provided for command line stuff.
*I have the alphanumeric encryption key that I was told to save when I set up encryption.
*There's also no critically important data on the disk, overwriting it is fine. I just want to be able to use the computer again.
*Netbook is an asus eee pc from the seashell series.
*I tried to boot from a USB stick, but it didn't work.
*I am a noob, assume I need code provided for command line stuff.
jpe: that is for resetting a user password. I mean really, what point would there be to disk encryption if it was this trivial to circumvent?
posted by epo at 12:13 PM on October 10, 2013
posted by epo at 12:13 PM on October 10, 2013
jpe: I may have been commenting out of ignorance. If you were prompted for a password at boot time then whole drive encryption is in use and your method would have been useless. If only the home directory was encrypted then your method might well work (and the encryption be pointless in my view).
posted by epo at 12:24 PM on October 10, 2013
posted by epo at 12:24 PM on October 10, 2013
Best answer: If you're sure the USB stick is bootable, you could try checking the boot device order in the BIOS menu (hold down the F2 key when it starts up, according to this); make sure it's set to try booting from USB before the hard drive.
posted by usonian at 12:33 PM on October 10, 2013
posted by usonian at 12:33 PM on October 10, 2013
What is the model and manufacturer of your netbook? It's likely (as usonian pointed out) that your computer needs to be coerced into booting from USB (either by getting a boot menu, or by changing the boot order in the BIOS) before it boots from disk, and each manufacturer can have a different mechanism for doing that. Once you boot from USB, you can use the tools there to blow away the disk partition and reinstall the OS of your choice.
posted by Aleyn at 3:42 PM on October 10, 2013
posted by Aleyn at 3:42 PM on October 10, 2013
I suspect you are wanting this: Recovering Your Data Automatically
If you don't care what's on it, boot a livecd and repartition/reformat.
posted by rr at 5:11 PM on October 10, 2013
If you don't care what's on it, boot a livecd and repartition/reformat.
posted by rr at 5:11 PM on October 10, 2013
Response by poster: I made a fresh, new USB boot drive and am typing from the netbook now. Yay! Sorry for troubling y'all with what was a simple solution, the encryption thing was just freaking me out.
posted by momus_window at 6:05 PM on October 11, 2013
posted by momus_window at 6:05 PM on October 11, 2013
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TLDR: go to the grub menu. the above link has some nice screenshots, and seems reasonably easy.
posted by jpe at 11:44 AM on October 10, 2013