I'm trying to help a family member with their old Ubuntu Linux machine that they can't access because they forgot the password. They're okay with wiping the machine completely, but I'm wondering if there's a way to install Windows 10 directly without needing the password. What's the best approach here?
3 Answers
If they don't care about any of the data on the machine, the easiest option is just to install Windows over the current Ubuntu installation. There's no need to worry about resetting the password at that point.
If you can get into a chroot environment, you can reset the password without needing the original one. Just make sure you've booted from an installer USB, and you should be able to handle it easily.
You can actually use a USB installer for Ubuntu to access a rescue environment. From there, you can use a command to reset the password. Just boot from the USB, do a 'chroot', and run 'passwd username' to change the password, then reboot when you're done.
That sounds like a solid plan! I’ll let them know about this option if they decide to try it first.