Resetting a forgotten password

If you forget the password for your account, you can set a new one by starting the computer from the SakuraOS USB stick. It takes about five minutes and a few commands, and does not touch your files.

This does not work for a forgotten disk encryption passphrase. If you chose to encrypt the disk and have forgotten the passphrase you type when the computer starts, the files cannot be recovered by anyone.

Reset the password

Start the computer from the SakuraOS USB stick (see Making a USB), and choose Try SakuraOS.
Open Konsole from the application menu.
Open your installed system. Type the command and press Enter.

If your disk is not encrypted:
```
sudo mount -o subvol=@ /dev/disk/by-label/SAKURA /mnt
```
If your disk is encrypted, run these two instead. The first asks for your disk passphrase.
```
sudo cryptsetup open /dev/disk/by-partlabel/SAKURA_ROOT sakura
sudo mount -o subvol=@ /dev/mapper/sakura /mnt
```
Find your username:
```
grep home /mnt/etc/passwd
```
Your username is the word at the start of the line, before the first colon. For example, in alex:x:1000:1000:Alex Kim:/home/alex:/bin/bash it is alex.
Set a new password, replacing alex with your username:
```
sudo arch-chroot /mnt passwd alex
```
Type the new password, press Enter, then type it again. Nothing appears on screen while you type; that is normal. It says password updated successfully when it is done.
Close the installed system:
```
sudo umount /mnt
```
If your disk is encrypted, also run sudo cryptsetup close sakura.
Restart, remove the USB stick when the screen goes black, and log in with the new password.

Afterwards

KDE Wallet, which stores passwords saved by applications such as Wi-Fi and browser passwords, stays locked with your old password. When it asks, type the old one if you remember it. If you do not, choose to create a new wallet; the passwords saved in the old one cannot be recovered.

Going back to a restore point from before the reset also brings back the old password, because the password is part of the system.

Last checked against the SakuraOS release of 3 October 2026. If your system behaves differently from this page, the page is wrong: please report it.