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SOLVED: Username and Password required on GRUB page

Posted:
Aug 22nd, '19, 21:30
by cliffsloane555
I installed Mageia 7.1 on a USB flash drive just to check out Mageia. On bootup, a lovely GRUB page is displayed, but no matter which entry I click on, I get a terminal asking for username and password. If I just wait for the default time, the terminal pops up anyway.
None of the typical usernames work (I use a standard PW for all my distros) and I do not recall entering a username during installation. Even "root" as username did not work.
My assumption is that I should delet the partition, boot from DVD again and install again. Is there anouther way?
Re: Username and Password required on GRUB page

Posted:
Aug 23rd, '19, 10:10
by benmc
looks like you passworded grub.
not accepting your password may be because your keyboard and the "installed" keyboard for grub are different, ie you are typing the "correct" keys, but the keyboard layout is different, so the system is interpreting the keys differently eg, you type an "a" but the system reads a "y".
guessing also installation was from a Live medium.
The Live medium does not request or install the root and user passwords until after the first boot after install.
it is a carry-over from OEM installations from Mandrake.
When you do re-install, do not enter a password until after you reboot.
(the password fields for grub bootloader security remains blank)
Re: Username and Password required on GRUB page

Posted:
Aug 23rd, '19, 16:25
by cliffsloane555
Yes indeed, that window looks familiar. It also does not identify a name for "user". May I assume that I should start all over?
Re: Username and Password required on GRUB page

Posted:
Aug 23rd, '19, 17:14
by doktor5000
Well, if you're familiar with chroot, you could boot from some live image, chroot to the 7.1 installation and then remove the password from your grub configuration, and reinstall grub.
But you could also basically just do a "repair" installation, select all the same settings you did last time, and then don't give a bootloader password.
Re: Username and Password required on GRUB page

Posted:
Aug 23rd, '19, 18:38
by banjo
I made that mistake when I first installed Mageia 7. I believe that the user defaults to "root" with the password you entered at installation time.
Here is how I fixed it.
If you end up with a boot (Grub2) password, you can remove it by renaming the file /boot/grub2/user.cfg to something else or deleting it. The file contains the hashed Grub2 password, and if the file is not there, no password is requested.
I found this information at
https://www.thegeekdiary.com/centos-rhel-7-how-to-password-protect-grub2-menu-entries/Banjo
(_)=='=~
Re: Username and Password required on GRUB page

Posted:
Aug 23rd, '19, 19:58
by cliffsloane555
Voila! Deleting user.cfg solved the problem.
Should I mark this as "solved"?
Re: Username and Password required on GRUB page

Posted:
Aug 23rd, '19, 20:13
by isadora
Please, and thanks.
