timekpr: inadvertently locked myself (admin user) out & can't boot - how to fix?

[m654321]

I use timekpr on my son's PC to limit the amount of time he spends on it: it works very
effectively.

To set his daily time allowance I have two accounts: admin user (me) and my son's account.
From the admin a/c I can set his daily time allowance for his account.

However, today I accidentally locked myself out of the admin a/c so am unable to get into the PC
at all.  As superuser, I attempted to inspect the following files in the terminal, as I have reason to
believe the timekpr file settings will be there...

Code:

gksu leafpad etc/security/access.conf
gksu leafpad etc/security/time.conf

However, all this comes up with is text which shows examples of settings that can be used. It doesn't actually
show the contents of the root files... 

Thanks for any help in advance
Mike

[technomancer]

I am not sure what you mean by "locked out". If i understand correctly, you just "lost" the password ?

Give this tutorial a try-  http://askubuntu.com/questions/24006/how...e-password

[m654321]

I am not sure what you mean by "locked out". If i understand correctly, you just "lost" the password ?

It's difficult to explain if you haven't used timekpr.

Essentially, after I'd finished resetting PC usage times for my son's a/c today (from my admin a/c on the same PC),
I clicked the padlock as locked (red) for the admin a/c by mistake, when I should have left it unlocked (green) as I usually do. 
The effect of this error appears to be that I'm now literally locked out of the admin a/c. My admin password will not let
me in.

I lock the settings for my son's a/c, from my admin a/c, so that he can't tinker with the time settings that I've set for his PC usage.

Sorry if this is still unclear.

Mike

[technomancer]

I am not sure what you mean by "locked out". If i understand correctly, you just "lost" the password ?

It's difficult to explain if you haven't used timekpr.

Essentially, after I'd finished resetting PC usage times for my son's a/c today (from my admin a/c on the same PC),
I clicked the padlock as locked (red) for the admin a/c by mistake, when I should have left it unlocked (green) as I usually do. 
The effect of this error appears to be that I'm now literally locked out of the admin a/c. My admin password will not let
me in.

I lock the settings for my son's a/c, from my admin a/c, so that he can't tinker with the time settings that I've set for his PC usage.

Sorry if this is still unclear.

Mike

Sorry Mike I have no experience with that software. I would imagine logging in as root and going from there would resolve it.
Assuming you have a root account setup..... Sorry wish i could be of more help.

[m654321]

I would imagine logging in as root and going from there would resolve it.

Yes, that was the first thing I tried, in an attempt to get into the etc/security/access.conf and etc/security/time.conf  files and edit them from root,
using the live environment (DVD) as I couldn't boot-up properly.

To do that I logged in as superuser  (sudo su), followed by the code I showed in my 1st post on this thread, though this didn't seem to work. 
I think that's more my inexperience in knowing how to access root files more than anything else.  I thought sudo su, followed by the requested
password input, gave me root user rights, but it didn't seem to happen. You might be able to advise me on how to access root files so as to edit
them.

Thanks again technomancer for feedback - I'll post any  solution on this thread, if I find one...

I have to add that the timekpr software (GUI-based) is great for limiting children's computer time to a reasonable daily amount. For example,
my son won't take any notice of me telling him when to stop  > , but he doesn't argue with the PC when timekpr informs him that he only has 2
min left to automatic shutdown! 

Mike

[Wirezfree]

If I understand correctly.?
This sound like something I needed to do when I was playing(and still am) with RAID.

You have booted a live LL and gone sudo su ?
That will give you su in the live environment


To change things in the actual "real" environment you will need to chroot
But what steps to get to your config files, not sure what you will need..??


For my RAID stuff I needed to mount/bind various folders 1st,
Then do the chroot , then I could edit modify the RAID settings in the "real" underlying set-up.
sorry I can't be more specific, but I'm sure it requires chroot.?

[LL-user]

Hi Mike,

An addition to Wirezfree recommendation.

If you just want to edit a file on your installed system there is not even the need to chroot. It would be enough to navigate to that file, either via the GUI filemanager (Thunar) or via the command line and open/edit it as root/Administrator. So in your live system you locate the partition/file system of your installed system and look for the file.

That all said, I assume you have not encrypted your system partition...

Hope that helps