Portenta X8 linux requires root password

Official Hardware Portenta Family Portenta X8
1

Connecting to Portenta X8 linux with adb shell and trying to become root requires a password I do not know.

Screenshot 2024-12-07 111647
Screenshot 2024-12-07 111647810×240 6.75 KB

2

Try reaching out to the person or organization you got it from, as the password is usually set during the initial Linux setup. If that doesn’t work, here’s a method you can try that I found:

If you've forgotten or lost the Linux admin (root) password, you can reset it by following these steps. Keep in mind that you need physical access to the machine to perform these actions:

Steps to Reset the Linux Admin Password

  1. Boot into Recovery Mode or Single-User Mode:
  • Restart your system.
  • At the boot menu (GRUB), highlight your Linux OS and press e to edit the boot parameters.
  • Locate the line that starts with linux and find ro (read-only mode). Replace ro with rw (read-write mode) and add single at the end of the line.
  • Press Ctrl+X or F10 to boot.
  1. Access the Shell:
  • The system will boot into a root shell without requiring a password.
  1. Reset the Password:
  • Once in the shell, type the following command to reset the root password:

bash

password

  • Enter and confirm the new password.
  1. Update Filesystem and Reboot:
  • Ensure all changes are written to disk by running:

bash

sync

  • Reboot the system:

bash
sync

  1. Alternative: Boot with a Live USB/CD:
  • If the above doesn't work, boot the system using a live Linux USB or CD.
  • Mount the root partition of the target system:

bash

sudo mount /dev/sdX /mnt

Replace /dev/sdX with your root partition.

  • Chroot into the mounted system:

bash

sudo chroot /mnt

  • Reset the password using passwd and reboot.

If you're working on a managed system, ensure you have permission to reset the password to comply with security policies.

3

This is a brand new device from Arduino official store, so I hope Arduino staff will be able to answer. Do you have such a device? Did you try this method? This would work when you have console access at boot time but there is no such thing with the Portenta X8. Thanks anyway.

4

The default root password for embedded Linux is empty..
Did you try pressing enter??

good luck.. ~q

5

No, but I've been using Linux Mint Cinnamon for the past 10 years.

6

The default PW = username. Try "fio"

1 Like
7

Thank you. The "fio" password was accepted as root.

8

Of course I did. Was the first thing I did :wink:

Best regards

9

if "fio" doesnt work, enter "sudo su" without the "~" and clarify "whoami"

10

'fio' worked fine. Thank you. Case was closed.