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I changed my user password two months ago. Logged in. Machine has been up and running since. Now I forgot my new password and want to run a sudo command. 'passwd' wants my current password before doing anything. Note: I also don't have the root account password.

I'm logged in now, have access to all my files etc, so is there a way to skip giving my current password to 'passwd'? Is there some way I can update my password without the current one?

I know there's a way to get in by rebooting and fiddling with the bootup command, but I'd rather not lose all the work in progress I have up now.

Note: Arch Linux, icewm for 'desktop', no other users, just me.

DarenW
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    You seem to know how to solve this (boot into single-user mode and reset the password). Assuming you have physical access to the system, just do that whenever you have finished your current work. Is there something stopping you from doing this? – Kusalananda Jun 09 '22 at 20:15
  • "Is there some way I can update my password without the current one?" -- well, not really, since the system is built to disallow that. Otherwise it'd be too easy to change someones password when they accidentally leave you alone for a moment with their login open. If you reboot, you can get around that because the system that sets those protections isn't running at bootup... Anyway, if you never use your password to login but just keep the session open, you don't really need a password to begin with. Disable remote logins too. – ilkkachu Jun 09 '22 at 21:35

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