How To Change/Reset Your Kali Linux Password On Your VMWare Workstation

I forgot my Kali Linux password and I spent over one hour trying to figure it out… well, I still didn’t think I actually forgot it. I thought Kali was just messing with me lol but hey, dude wouldn’t let me in, so I had to go do a reset ????♀? especially as I'm more of a "Fix It, Don't Quit It" girl rather than the "Fresh Vibes Only" girl.

We wouldn’t want you stressing over the same, now would we?

So, take some time, pay close attention to the steps below carefully detailing how to reset your Kali Linux password in VMware, and let’s get Kali to open up that door for you.

Okay, getting right into it...??

The figure above is what you would see if you had tried to log in to Kali Linux with the wrong password (whether you were so sure you were inputting the right password just like me but still couldn’t get in, or you just knew that password was no more available in your database).

The first thing you want to do is to restart your machine.

When you see the interface above, click on the Esc button to go to your boot menu.

Now, to edit the Grub, ensure that the “Kali GNU/Linux” option is highlighted, as seen above, rather than the “Advanced options for Kali GNU/Linux” option.

After ensuring this, enter “E” on your keyboard while the option is still highlighted.

If this process is followed correctly, you should see the interface as in the figure below.

Now, you want to scroll all the way down to the bottom using the up-down-left-right scroll keys at the bottom right of your keyboard (you’d find it there on most keyboards).

What you see are basically instructions, telling the machine what to boot and how exactly to boot it.

Do not forget that when you click on the interface to edit it, your mouse icon disappears, but you can do the Ctrl+Alt to get it back on your screen. This helps right across your machine whenever that happens.

You’re welcome! ??

As highlighted above, the Linux entry is the entry that you will be editing. You will be telling the machine the kernel to boot and the boot argument for the kernel.

Now, you would need to change the boot kernel parameters for you to change or reset your Kali Linux password and drop it right into a bash shell.

To do this;

• locate and change the “ro” you see to “rw” (read, write) to enable it to interact with the file system and change the Kali Linux password.
• move your cursor all the way to the right end, and add the “init=/bin/bash/” command:

This informs the kernel that as soon as it finishes booting, it should run the command.

If edited correctly, the below is what you should have.

Afterward, press the “Ctrl” and “X” keys on your keyboard together. This will boot together with the Grub changes made.

With all properly set, you’ll get loaded as seen…

Next thing you want to do is type in and run the “passwd” command. It will prompt you for a new Kali Linux password for the root user.

Do not be surprised if the password you are typing does not show up on your screen. This is how it works on Linux. Just make sure you type it in correctly, and press enter once you are done.

It will also prompt you to re-enter your initially typed-in password for confirmation.

If these are properly done as explained, you should get a “password updated successfully” message, thus confirming that your Kali Linux password has been changed or reset to what you typed in.

Furthermore, there are cases where you might also want to reset the Kali Linux password of another user.

All you have to do is type the command “passwd username” where username = the name of the user you are trying to reset the password for.

For example;

If the name of the user is sarahjones, then your command will be “passwd sarahjones” as seen in the figure below.

After you have inputted this, press “Enter”.

It is the same process I had explained for resetting a root user’s Kali Linux password.

It will prompt you for a new Kali Linux password for the user. Type in the new password, then type it in again when prompted to re-enter it, and…

Voilà!

You’ve got your needed access!

The “sarahjones does not exist” response I got is because the user does not exist on my machine, plus I was not looking to reset any other user’s Kali Linux password.

Okay! Moving on…

Let’s do a reboot and log in with the new password you had inputted.

To reboot, right-click on your Kali Linux’s username in the top left corner of your screen, click on “Power”, then click on “Restart Guest” from the options displayed as seen in the figure below.

If done rightly, it should take you right to the Kali Linux login page, where you can input your Kali Linux username and password (the new one)… and…

BOOM!

YOU ARE RIGHT BACK IN !!!

I hope this was as explanatory and helpful to you as needed??. Let's stick with the "FIX IT, DON'T QUIT IT" team, okay?

Catch you again soon guys!

I am Grace Brown Owoseni, and, I am A Techie and More!

Thank You, and Have A Lovely Rest Of Your Day! ??