Factory Reset

[daffy]

I guess not being used to the keyboard, I've managed to enter twice a password that I can't now repeat.

Is there some way to do a factory reset, or otherwise get into this thing?

Also, has someone put together a wiki or some other source of wisdom about using this thing?

 

[mali]

I have no Pandora, but I think a reflash might help. As for the wiki stuff, there is a Tweaks Thread pinned in the help section where users should post their tips. Maybe we can generate a wiki out of that later.

edit:
I almost forgot, there is also a manual made by the community
http://pandorawiki.org/User_manual

 

[hobbyman II]

or you could boot from grub/lilo with the "single" option and then reset the password with the passwd command (I think thats it...google "linux reset root password")


edit: linky thing for you salvation?

 

[mali]

If it works, please post a tutorial in the help section, thanks in advance

 

[Mr B]

@hobbyman: Thanks. Not that i got a Panda needing a password recovery, but it goes to show how easy it is to circumvent security if you got access to the hardware. I tested´the 3 ways described in your link, and they all worked on my x86 system... That is supposedly a hardened system acting as a firewall. Scary ;- )

Thanks.
B!

 

[WizardStan]

@hobbyman: Thanks. Not that i got a Panda needing a password recovery, but it goes to show how easy it is to circumvent security if you got access to the hardware. I tested´the 3 ways described in your link, and they all worked on my x86 system... That is supposedly a hardened system acting as a firewall. Scary ;- )

This is one of the most hilarious things I see in cop shows these days. "Oh no! This guy is super hacker guy with ultra password. We're going to need to do some clever hackery in order to get into his system"
Reality: a liveCD or a screwdriver are all you really need.

 

[quadomatic]

Reality: a liveCD or a screwdriver are all you really need.

Yep. The LiveCD to reset the passwords. The screwdriver...uh...a weapon to protect yourself from someone who might try to come and stop you?

 

[renwils]

I think in this case, it would be called a 'Town Hall' Reset.

 

[Tom`]

Reality: a liveCD or a screwdriver are all you really need.

Yep. The LiveCD to reset the passwords. The screwdriver...uh...a weapon to protect yourself from someone who might try to come and stop you?

Screwdriver to get into the case and reset the BIOS password - what kind of super hacker guy are you?

 

[Mr B]

Hey now, even if we stick to talking about desktops, workstations and other x86 systems, not all BIOS passwords are reset as easy as with a jumper, or a lifted battery... But on the other hand they all have default "master" passwords, or can be sidetracked, tricked into booting the system without using the password. And a password at a OS level isn't there to protect you from anyone who unsupervised has access to the system, but rather to keep "accidental access" from happening.
Anyway, we are getting way of topic. Thank you guys for the "single" tip on password resets.
B!

 

[daffy]

Thanks for all the help.

Now my question is: how do I get into LILO?

Even more useful: where I can I find such arcane secrets myself? I searched for "lilo" here, and I found a bunch of mentions of "enter this in LILO" and the like, but nothing that tells me how to get into LILO once I've chosen my windowing system.

There is some basic admin-type stuff that ought to all be recorded in one place. I'll happily put it on my website if there is nowhere here to do it, but I have to first know what it is...

 

[Pleng]

to get to the boot menu, if that what you're trying to do, restart the Pandora and hold the right-hand shoulder button down

 

[daffy]

to get to the boot menu, if that what you're trying to do, restart the Pandora and hold the right-hand shoulder button down

Yeah, I found that, but that gives me the options:
- default boot
- power off

The first just proceeds into Anstrom and asks me for my password, and the other one, well, shuts down. Not sure how either option helps. :-(

 

[daffy]

To be clear, it appears that I need to get into LILO, given what's been said in this thread. It's not obvious that the right shoulder button gets me into LILO.

I think another option would be some sort of bootable image I could put on a SD card. But I can't find any of those that anyone has managed to put together, either.

 

[WizardStan]

Screwdriver to get into the case and reset the BIOS password - what kind of super hacker guy are you?

Actually, the screwdriver is to remove the hard drive so it can be put slave into a different machine. "You'll never guess my admin password!" "Probably not *pull drive, insert in second machine* but I do know the password to my own box."

To be clear, it appears that I need to get into LILO, given what's been said in this thread. It's not obvious that the right shoulder button gets me into LILO.

As far as I am aware, the Pandora shouldn't have either LILO or GRUB. It's probably something far more minimal like U-Boot or something.

 

[Butterman]

Actually, the screwdriver is to remove the hard drive so it can be put slave into a different machine. "You'll never guess my admin password!" "Probably not *pull drive, insert in second machine* but I do know the password to my own box."

BitLocker muhahaha

No but seriously, who the hell uses bitlocker anyway? Why not just skip the middle man and get truecrypt.

 

[WizardStan]

No but seriously, who the hell uses bitlocker anyway? Why not just skip the middle man and get truecrypt.

Yeah, if they're using an encrypted file system then you've got some work ahead of you, but who encrypts their entire hard drive? Does the windows temp folder reside on the encrypted partition? The swap file? There are goodies to be found, unless you're being really, really paranoid.