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Password Works for Logon but Not for Update Authentication (Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS)

sg flag

My password in Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS is being rejected for authentication of updates, app install/uninstall, unlock, ... However, it does work when I log on after a restart. Until a week or so ago it worked for everything. How do I fix this?

Here's the output requested by @muru:

tim@tim-Precision-T1700:~$ groups
tim adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin lxd sambashare
tim@tim-Precision-T1700:~$ sudo -l
[sudo] password for tim: 
Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for tim: 

I guess, obviously, one of the consequences of the issue(s) I'm having is that I am unable to perform "sudo" commands.

Another issue that has presented, somewhat unrelated, is that I have not been able, so far, to get to the GRUB menu. not seeing the BIOS screen to signal when to hold down the SHIFT key. I'll keep trying.

Seems like I'm hitting a brick wall. Getting close to going radical and reinstalling Ubuntu, maybe 23.04 or a totally different distro.

Luuk avatar
cn flag
see: [How do I reset a lost administrative password?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/24006/how-do-i-reset-a-lost-administrative-password)
petep avatar
in flag
use grub menu at boot to get to recover shell and type "passwd" cmdlet
karel avatar
sa flag
Does this answer your question? [How do I reset a lost administrative password?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/24006/how-do-i-reset-a-lost-administrative-password)
BeFreeIL avatar
sg flag
I think the solution to reassigning a password has been provided. I'll comment further after trying it. I would like to know why the password was lost in the first place so I can avoid it happening in the future.
muru avatar
us flag
I think your problem isn't the password but your privileges. Did you change your user's groups recently? Or edit Polkit or sudo configuration?
BeFreeIL avatar
sg flag
@muru: Well, I don't think so on either count, at least not on purpose. That does seems to make sense as a possible cause though. Any way to find out if that were the case or to undo it?
muru avatar
us flag
Add the output of `groups` and `sudo -l` to the post, please
BeFreeIL avatar
sg flag
@muru: See results in post.
ru flag
Note that the BIOS issue is *unrelated* to Ubuntu and we can't help you with it. That'd be dependent on your system, hardware, etc. Simply hold SHIFT from boot up to get to GRUB. If your password isn't working for `sudo` but works for other things, then I would definitely look at permissions. You *are* in the `sudo` group so you SHOULD be able to `sudo`, make sure you're not fat-fingering your password?
Luuk avatar
cn flag
When `sudo ...` is not working you can always try `su` (you need to use the password for root, see: `man su` )
BeFreeIL avatar
sg flag
@Luuk: Tried command "su -l". Here's result, as I expected... tim@tim-Precision-T1700:~$ su -l Password: su: Authentication failure So, can't do that either.
BeFreeIL avatar
sg flag
@ThomasWard: I really wasn't looking for any BIOS help . BTW, F2 gets you in on this Dell. That said, holding SHIFT down from the beginning does not bring up GRUB. Same holding down the ESC key. Did multiple other variations with both of those keys. Fat-fingering isn't happening. Have had same password since installing Ubuntu almost 2 years ago. Permissions? Never purposely modified them. In fact, I didn't know anything about how to do that until the last couple of days.
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