Here is a short guide to resetting the admin password (Debian OS root user password). I’m writing this up because it has come up on the UR Discord several times now. This would be common knowledge to anyone running small Linux homelab servers. Essentially this is a guide to manually put the correct hash for ‘easybot’ into the linux shadow file that is referenced for user authentication.
For the curious
Understanding /etc/shadow file
Note: Do not attempt this if any part of the guide makes you uncomfortable
You will need one of the following:
- Linux PC
- Linux VM
- Windows with WSL2
- Windows with a mounting program for EXT file systems. Eg. How to Mount Ext4 on Windows for Free | DiskInternals
Accessing the SD card
- Power down robot
- Remove SD card
- Plug into computer via SD card reader or slot
Manually replacing the hash for easybot
- Navigate to
/etc/ - make a backup of the
shadowtext file - Replace the line that starts with
root:with the following hash foreasybot:
root:$6$3vL7GCHX$P8zdkoSdHi1p7eUffcjLO817K.vWNndUVDBjQTw/ovkeDPcng3rJnp9GwDKOlraQBzzamFpzRKpnj8ix9pStT/:19920:0:99999:7:::
Testing
- Safely dismount or eject the SD card
- Insert into robot
- Power on and try to log into a terminal using the
easybotroot password