DEV Community

Cover image for Overriding Armbian's "it is based on a dictionary word" during setup
Toby Chui
Toby Chui

Posted on

Overriding Armbian's "it is based on a dictionary word" during setup

This is a simple instruction to help you override the Armbian's setup utilities that require your password to be long and not a dictionary word.
2021-06-06_13-18-28

Instructions

  1. Think of a disposable, long password and write it down in Notepad or other text editor
  2. Use it as your new root password
  3. Create a primary user account and use the same password for the account password.
  4. Finish and exit the the setup utilities
  5. Now, you should be able to enter commands using the user "root". Use the following commands to change the password for "root" and your newly created user
passwd root
(Follow on screen instruction to type in your less secure password)

passwd your_newly_created_user
(Follow on screen instruction to type in your less secure password again)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2021-06-06_13-29-29

Why would you want to do this instead of using a secure password?

There might be some debate on why you would want your password simple instead of using a complex one to improve security.
In my case, I am setting up an environment on ZeroPi that try to match the Raspberry Pi OS in which it is easier for students to get started with Raspberry Pi's teaching materials (And one of them is the default user "pi" with password "raspberry"). But in general if you are using this system yourself, I would recommend a more complex and secure password for root instead.

Top comments (0)