I'm using Arch Linux and ran `sudo pacman -S protontricks` in Konsole. When sudo prompted for my password, the terminal appeared to ignore my typing: no letters, dots, or asterisks showed up, and I wasn't sure whether the input was being entered. After several failed attempts, the command eventually worked, confirming that I had simply mistyped the password. Is this normal, and can password input be configured to show feedback while typing?
3 Answers
The default behavior is also a security measure: showing no characters prevents someone watching the screen from estimating the password’s length. If the password is rejected, check your keyboard layout, Caps Lock, and whether the account has been temporarily locked after repeated authentication failures.
If you prefer visual feedback, sudo can be configured to display an asterisk for each character. On systems using the standard sudo configuration, you can create a file such as `/etc/sudoers.d/pwfeedback` containing `Defaults pwfeedback`, then set its permissions to `0440`. Use care when editing sudo configuration, since a syntax error can prevent sudo from working.
That behavior is normal. When a terminal asks for a sudo password, it intentionally displays nothing—not even asterisks—as you type. Enter the password normally and press Enter. The lack of visible characters doesn’t mean the input is being ignored.
That explains it—my password was being entered, I was just typing it incorrectly several times.