If you have only the BIOS menu access, you should be able to change the boot-up password and the BIOS passwords - but you cannot change anything in the Operating System - especially any system or user passwords. These are encrypted and are near impossible to crack - more here. This is one of the wonders, and pains of Linux - unlike Windows, you can't just decode the password...
If you have no access to your Fedora install at all, you should be able to install other the top it or beside, leaving the /home file which should contain all your data.
If it is the login password (what you would need to login), you can change it by logging in as either as root (use su
, or sudo -i
) or the user, and change the password in Users and Groups, or if you have logged in as that user, by simply typing passwd
into terminal.
If it is the root password you are on about, you have to login as root in terminal and type passwd
.
If it is the BIOS password, you need to enter the BIOS setup as Administrator, and change the User password, or the Administrator password in the 'Security' section.
If you can't get past the BIOS password, how can Fedora boot ? Please elaborate, I can't see how the question as posed relates to Fedora.
Hmmm, as long as this is your computer, you can bypass the BIOS password easily. Are you at the bios boot password prompt, or are you in the bios system? If your motherboard battery is dead, it might have loaded a default set of BIOS settings, and all you need do is save them and reboot (and change the bios battery at the first opportunity). If this is about bootup passwords, then you need to open the case and reset the bios - there's usually a jumper on the mainboard to achieve that.
But only if you are know what you are doing, @cobra. If it is the BIOS password prompt you are having the problem with, it is the hardware, not Fedora, that may be causing the problem. You should be able to get it unlocked by your PC's supplier (especially if it is fairly new), or by finding out how to do it for that make and model of computer.
With the motherboard battery thing by the way - link
There is a misconception here. I have no problem with bios password. My problem is, when Fedora ask me for a Fedora Password. This is what I need to chance or alter or eliminate. IF the OS does not mount into the computer, I'm out, unable to act. I can not even use the DVD. I need to bypass the Fedora Password.