From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Wed, 10/22/2025 7:32 AM, Chris Elvidge wrote:   
   > On 21/10/2025 at 22:08, s|b wrote:   
   >> On Tue, 21 Oct 2025 13:08:04 -0400, Paul wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> You'll need your USB LiveDVD stick, to boot off the stick   
   >>> and reach in and repair it.   
   >>>   
   >>>       [Picture]  Select "Download Original" to get full resolution   
   >>>   
   >>>        https://i.postimg.cc/kgVTbLpY/Fixing-a-homedir.gif   
   >>   
   >> Tnx, Paul. I may use this for fun, just to see if I get it done, but   
   >> since he also wants to learn how to install Linux Mint I might as well   
   >> let him do it looking over his shoulder.   
   >>     
   >>> The Boss apparently used "sudo" to get into trouble :-)   
   >>   
   >> I guess that is my fault with the autologin with an admin account.   
   >   
   > Never run X/Wayland as root!   
   > Autologin should have been 'boss'.   
   >   
   > Renaming /home/boss to /home/Boss does not change the login name, but it   
   does make the record in /etc/passwd point to a non-existant home directory for   
   user boss.   
   > 'Bad password' might easily be a red herring; trying to log in as Boss (this   
   user doesn't exist) will give the 'bad password' error.   
   >   
   > None of these problems are fatal _if_ you can log in as root. Just reverse   
   the rename and make sure boss record in /etc/passwd is consistent. If you   
   can't log in as root, do as suggested - boot with your install stick and do   
   the rename from that.    
   Remember to mount your root device (/dev/sda1, perhaps) on (e.g.) /mnt and   
   then make the modifications in /mnt/home/ and /mnt/etc/passwd.   
   >   
      
   Using "gnome-disks" program, you can click the disk drive name   
   on the left, then like Disk Management, click the large partition   
   (which is the slash partition perhaps), and the triangle button on the   
   left underneath the disk row, should be labeled as "mount" via a balloon.   
   This auto-mounts the partition and the identifier in this case   
   on mine, was a GUID-type string. An additional mount may be   
   needed if /home is stored on yet another partition.   
      
   The "df" command ("diskfree") shows the names of the mounted   
   items, and maybe a new item beginning with /media/mint/...   
   is present. You can CD to that, CD to home on there, and   
   the boss string needing correction should be there.   
      
   Since /media/mount/.../home is owned by root, it takes   
   sudo there, to rename the boss string back to the boss-original   
   value.   
      
   If you use   
      
      cat /media/mount/.../etc/passwd                                    #   
   Display contents of password file   
      
      bullwinkle:x:1000:1000:bullwinkle,,,:/home/bullwinkle:/bin/bash    # my   
   home is /home/bullwinkle   
      root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash                                    # Root   
   home is irregular and is in /root   
      
   you should be able to review the row corresponding to the   
   boss account, and verify the pathname for the profile.   
   You can see the numeric identifier in the usernum:groupnum field.   
   That's the numeric identifier which is the same as saying "boss" in the   
   string form of it. Whether a shadow file is being used,   
   will just affect the appearance of where the password field   
   would go. The letter "x" indicates the password is in the shadow.   
      
   And there is a demo of using "adduser" here.   
      
   https://askubuntu.com/questions/19455/using-capitals-in-my-username   
      
   The usage of "sudo", a lot of users don't understand that on   
   un-configured boxes, you have to set up sudo for each user   
   your own self, and define the sub-range of things you want   
   the user to be able to do. For example, at work, only "mount"   
   and "umount" might have been extended as privileges to a UNIX   
   user. And those could be taken away, if you were caught being   
   naughty. "sudo" doesn't have to work, and you can be "denied"   
   on a box. While we use sudo like there is no tomorrow, it's   
   a privilege to have that capability, and not every OS you sit   
   in front of, has the carefree config you see on the screen in this case.   
      
   *******   
      
   When you work in a Terminal, an invocation of a program can block.   
      
   $ gnome-disks             # won't accept new commands until you exit   
   gnome-disks   
      
   If you type -z , that puts that application asleep,   
   and if you then enter "bg", that separates the process from   
   the parent. And the command prompt is then free to accept   
   a new command. A status line is displayed, with an interesting   
   representation, a kind of hint for the next time. If you use   
   the hint, and you type it this way...   
      
   $ gnome-disks &   
      
   that separates the executable from the parent right away,   
   and saves on having to perform the ceremony in the paragraph   
   immediately above.   
      
   That's just a bare intro to job management in a Terminal.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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