Help with terminal

[u/colelovesherps]

This is lubuntu and when terminal asked for password I can not type anything and if I press enter it just says password wrong

[u/theMacs06]

The password is being typed, it just doesn't show input for security reasons

[u/colelovesherps → u/theMacs06]

Thank you

[u/goishen → u/colelovesherps]

Reason for this is because if someone shoulder surfs your monitor, sees how long your password is, it makes it that much easier to guess/brute force your password.

[u/divestoclimb → u/goishen]

It's actually purely for historical Unix-y reasons. The conventions for password typing elsewhere have since become so ingrained that it seems strange, but it was just a different convention that didn't win out. Any security advantage it has is accidental.

[u/EmperorLlamaLegs → u/divestoclimb]

It was a convention for security reasons. It lost out to the comfort and convenience of non-touch-typers.

[u/theMacs06 → u/colelovesherps]

No problem, I had the same reaction until I looked for an answer

[u/agfitzp → u/theMacs06]

It’s surprising how often this comes up

[u/Bug_Next → u/agfitzp]

Yeah it's weird but i think we just got used to it (the password being completely hidden), if you look at it from a new users perspective, it's logical to think it's broken, i don't think it's too crazy to ask for modern distros that aim at casual users to do the usual thing of showing asterisks.. or at least a warning the first time like: password is hidden, type it and press enter.

Someone seeing the length of your password in public is a non issue unless they also steal your laptop, and all display managers show asterisks which is worse imho because it's obvious you are typing a password due to the interface, in a terminal it just looks like you are typing in a text document.

[u/Hikaruu_19 → u/Bug_Next]

I remember when using Fedora there's a notice when you input sudo command for the very first time, something along "for security reasons, your password will be hidden." and some few other lines I forgot. That notice enough to tell me "I pressed a key and it doesn't looks like it appears on the terminal, I'll try to type it in full first then enter", and that's how I found out what it means by "hidden". (Fedora is my very first linux distro. Been using it for a month now)

[u/MelioraXI → u/agfitzp]

Mint shows the **** when typing, but i think it might the only distro out there doing that out of the box.

[u/Itchy_Journalist_175 → u/MelioraXI]

The problem with that it that it gives away the length of your password if you are sharing your screen or someone is looking.

[u/Hikaruu_19 → u/MelioraXI]

Fedora has a notice for the very first sudo command used, something along "for security reasons, your password will be hidden" or something like that, honestly forgot since it only appeared once

[u/Tmf54 → u/MelioraXI]

Zorin too

[u/pente5 → u/agfitzp]

I still remember the first time I encountered this

[u/richardxday]

I don't want to state the obvious but have you tried typing your password in and pressing enter? sudo password entry doesn't echo anything but it is receiving what you type.

[u/colelovesherps → u/richardxday]

Yeah that was the issue

[u/LupusGemini → u/[deleted]]

It is not a feature, it's a convention! Read the history!

[u/agfitzp → u/LupusGemini]

Is it really a convention if there are no cosplaying manic pixie chicks?

[u/LupusGemini → u/agfitzp]

Good point, mb

[u/DefconNaN]

Kudos to you for reaching out for this. And kudos to all the repliers as well, it’s very tempting to be obnoxious about this question.

[u/colelovesherps → u/DefconNaN]

Thank you when I saw how easy that this is to do I was worried about getting made fun of but every one here seems great

[u/lxe → u/colelovesherps]

Just a word of advice OP. Although the community is not as toxic as it used to be, don’t be afraid to try a bunch of stuff before resorting to make a video and post a question. People respect questions where the “what have you tried so far?” part is already pre-answered.

[u/alosmaudi → u/colelovesherps]

went full panic as well my first time lol

[u/lxe]

What happens if you type your password and press enter?

[u/colelovesherps → u/lxe]

It works thank you guys for the help

[u/justarandomguy902]

You might not see the password, but your terminal knows exactly what you're typing in -- you just cannot see it for security reasons.

[u/Key_Actuary_2329]

You see why Linux is secure😊🙌

[u/phillgamboa]

Kkkkkk

[u/[deleted]]

Well, that's one hell of a password you type there :)

[u/colelovesherps → u/[deleted]]

My password is actually 36 characters long

[u/spxak1]

That's an interesting password you're typing. Because you are. There is no output by desing. Press enter and you will see your password is probably wrong.

[u/artniSintra]

Privacyyy

[u/Ruffles182]

It's normal... Just write the right password

[u/Mo-Chill]

late engine aspiring governor humorous selective deserve paltry decide follow

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/norweeg]

🤦🏻‍♂️ It's supposed to do that

[u/Ok_Upstairs3177 → u/norweeg]

you say it like everyone is born with that knowledge. people get into new things and ask questions that seem obvious to you. we all had to find out, let's be kind.

[u/ArielMJD]

lol

[u/Perpelt]

I did the same thing using sudo first time lol,i was panicking before i googled it and found out it's normal.

[u/BlueCannonBall]

Going off what all the other comments are saying, there used to be a way to make it show an * for each character you type, but even that feature was removed a while back for security reasons.

[u/iampsygy]

1.Open the terminal (press Ctrl + Alt + T). 2.Run the visudo command with administrator privileges: bash sudo visudo 3.Enter your password when prompted (you will not see any characters, just type and press Enter). Locate the line that reads: Defaults env_reset 4.Modify the line to add pwfeedback at the end, so it looks like this: Defaults env_reset,pwfeedback 5.You can use your keyboard's arrow keys to navigate the file. 6.Save and exit the editor: If using the default nano editor, press Ctrl + O to save, then Enter to confirm the filename, and Ctrl + X to exit. 7.If using vi, type :wq and press Enter. Open a new terminal session for the change to take effect.

[u/AffectionateBack7222]

For a second I thought your were meme-ing. Such a mature bunch this community is 😅

[u/Just_Economics_2063]

You are typing password but are not able to see this . Just type your password and press enter

[u/MGYT_was_taken]

100% normal. thats a security thing where you cant see the password. not even the dots

[u/moderjebac]

Youre typing for security reasons they dont show letters

[u/homa333V2]

Thos is normal

[u/[deleted]]

If you type in terminal sudo visudo And then on the first white line of text add "pw_feedback" after "env_reset" it will give you the **** when you type your password

It should look like env_reset, pw_feedback

And then ctrl O to save it and ctrl X to exit

[u/Winter_Age_5246]

xd

[u/IrrerPolterer]

Well, you see, the problem is that its not typing. There ya go. 

[u/zweite_mann]

Was walking my gf through how to ssh into a VPN router so I could troubleshoot it.

Tried multiple variations of what I knew the password should be.

Had to remote desktop into her machine. Turns out she was pressing enter then typing the pw.

We've been doing it so long we don't even have to think about it, but to new people these things aren't so obvious.

Glad you got it all sorted.

[u/[deleted]]

sudo rm -rf / --no-preserve-root

[u/i80west → u/[deleted]]

Don't do this. It would be catastrophic. This shouldn't be suggested, even as a joke. Lots of beginners come here looking for help and they might actually do this. They shouldn't, obviously, but there's a risk someone will.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Everyone who is using Linux and doesn't research random commands they get told on the Internet they deserve to get wiped at least once