What is the default root password in Linux? Most Live Linux distributions are created without a root password. Before installation, the root account is inactive. This is particularly true with Debian and Ubuntu based Live distributions.
In most cases, having no root password is fine while running from a Live USB if you don't need to perform administration tasks, make changes or install any additional packages.
Why set a default root password?
Setting a root password might be necessary for those who want to make administrative changes and save those changes back to a USB device or local storage device on for example a "casper-rw" partition. Setting a root password also enables us to access essential tools such as the synaptic installer so that we can add additional packages to our Linux system.
How to change Linux password
To change a Linux password or set a Ubuntu default root password, you can perform the following steps. Note this will also work for Debian based builds:
- Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T)
- To set a new Linux password, type the following command and then press Enter,
sudo passwd root - Then type your new password and press Enter.
- Type your new password again to confirm it.
That's all it takes to change an existing Linux password or to set a new root password for Ubuntu or Debian. Other distributions may vary.