Forgot my sudo password. steam deck is all I have at the moment. Am I done?

[Tyrion]

That's my question. Everything I see either says completely factory reset, or do some sort of thing with a Windows PC and USB cable. Which I completely ignore as I don't have a PC at the moment. Is there some other way of resetting the password?

[germanicianus]

I don’t know your Linux knowledge, so I start simple.

Do you remember the password of the user „deck“? That should be your sudo password.

The current user is only allowed to change his password if he puts in his current password. There is no backdoor.

Edit: As the Deck‘s harddisk is not encrypted, it should be possible to boot from an external medium and edit the Deck’s user password files, but I never tried this.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3727324132825280111/#c3727324491569714032
https://linuxize.com/post/etc-passwd-file/
Thanks Mahjik who linked the thread which remembered me.

[DrUnKeN_TiGeR]

passwd in konsole

[Tyrion]

Originally posted by germanicianus:

I don’t know your Linux knowledge, so I start simple.

Do you remember the password of the user „deck“? That should be your sudo password.

The current user is only allowed to change his password if he puts in his current password. There is no backdoor.

It's been months since I messed with the desktop. I honestly thought that I didn't set up a password, or set it up to be empty. But nothing I've tried works.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Tyrion:

Originally posted by germanicianus:

I don’t know your Linux knowledge, so I start simple.

Do you remember the password of the user „deck“? That should be your sudo password.

The current user is only allowed to change his password if he puts in his current password. There is no backdoor.

It's been months since I messed with the desktop. I honestly thought that I didn't set up a password, or set it up to be empty. But nothing I've tried works.

Just to be clear, when you go into Konsole and type "passwd", it does ask for the old password first, correct?

[Tyrion]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Originally posted by Tyrion:

It's been months since I messed with the desktop. I honestly thought that I didn't set up a password, or set it up to be empty. But nothing I've tried works.

Just to be clear, when you go into Konsole and type "passwd", it does ask for the old password first, correct?

Yes, and nothing I can think of that I normally chose for this sort of thing works. It kicks me out after a couple of tries.

[Mahjik]

There are some options (other than re-image) in the following thread:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3727324132825280111/

[Mahjik]

No matter how you get back to where you need to be, think about using a password manager going foward:

https://flathub.org/apps/org.keepassxc.KeePassXC

[+T+]

Valve needs to change this immediately. Allow us to change it no matter what the current password is, allow us to change it after confirming through mobile authenticator, or give us the option to change it through our actual Steam account. Re-imaging all because of a mistake is really ridiculous.

I too have made this mistake and now need to re-image my steam OS. I'm just going to do it when I upgrade my SSD. Shouldn't have to do that though.

Also, it should be a part of the set up process of the Steam Deck right out of the box. Why it isn't, I have no clue.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by _Deck_Cyborg_:

Valve needs to change this immediately. Allow us to change it no matter what the current password is, allow us to change it after confirming through mobile authenticator, or give us the option to change it through our actual Steam account. Re-imaging all because of a mistake is really ridiculous.

I too have made this mistake and now need to re-image my steam OS. I'm just going to do it when I upgrade my SSD. Shouldn't have to do that though.

Also, it should be a part of the set up process of the Steam Deck right out of the box. Why it isn't, I have no clue.

Valve is not going to do anything about it. You don't need to mess with root passwords to use the deck, it's all your own doing.

[germanicianus]

Originally posted by _Deck_Cyborg_:

Allow us to change it no matter what the current password is

I strongly disagree. That would be a backdoor and that‘s a no-go in Linux. Apple is handling it the same way - at least officially. When you set a password, you must remember or take a note of it.

[germanicianus]

@Tyrion, I just edited my initial reply. Fixing that is possible, but you must boot from recovery media.

[retrogunner]

Originally posted by germanicianus:

I don’t know your Linux knowledge, so I start simple.

Do you remember the password of the user „deck“? That should be your sudo password.

The current user is only allowed to change his password if he puts in his current password. There is no backdoor.

Edit: As the Deck‘s harddisk is not encrypted, it should be possible to boot from an external medium and edit the Deck’s user password files, but I never tried this.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3727324132825280111/#c3727324491569714032

https://linuxize.com/post/etc-passwd-file/
Thanks Mahjik who linked the thread which remembered me.

I've not had to do this. As sysadmin, that specific community link above makes complete sense. The encrypted password is kept in the shadow file. Those instructions simplify the steps quite a bit.

[+T+]

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Originally posted by _Deck_Cyborg_:

Valve needs to change this immediately. Allow us to change it no matter what the current password is, allow us to change it after confirming through mobile authenticator, or give us the option to change it through our actual Steam account. Re-imaging all because of a mistake is really ridiculous.

I too have made this mistake and now need to re-image my steam OS. I'm just going to do it when I upgrade my SSD. Shouldn't have to do that though.

Also, it should be a part of the set up process of the Steam Deck right out of the box. Why it isn't, I have no clue.

Valve is not going to do anything about it. You don't need to mess with root passwords to use the deck, it's all your own doing.

I would agree, but in my case it came up asking for me to change the password while installing decky loader and I accidentally entered something while setting my steam deck down. That's how mine ended up with me not knowing the password. It's complete BS. (Also, if you don't need to use the passwords, then it shouldn't show up AT ALL while installing programs. That's seriously stupid)

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by _Deck_Cyborg_:

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Valve is not going to do anything about it. You don't need to mess with root passwords to use the deck, it's all your own doing.

I would agree, but in my case it came up asking for me to change the password while installing decky loader and I accidentally entered something while setting my steam deck down. That's how mine ended up with me not knowing the password. It's complete BS. (Also, if you don't need to use the passwords, then it shouldn't show up AT ALL while installing programs. That's seriously stupid)

decky loader has nothing to do with Valve or Steam. you are modding your deck, so everything you do is on you.

[fender178]

Originally posted by _Deck_Cyborg_:

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Valve is not going to do anything about it. You don't need to mess with root passwords to use the deck, it's all your own doing.

I would agree, but in my case it came up asking for me to change the password while installing decky loader and I accidentally entered something while setting my steam deck down. That's how mine ended up with me not knowing the password. It's complete BS. (Also, if you don't need to use the passwords, then it shouldn't show up AT ALL while installing programs. That's seriously stupid)

Then it is ok for anyone to install whatever questionable program onto your device I take it?