System changed password by itself?

Hello all,

not sure if anyone had it also already, but anyway:
I installed Garuda Mokka with keyboard layout “DE” / “German”, after reboot
After restarting the live system on which I carried out the installation, everything was normal.
I installed programs and carried out an update using the “garuda-update” command.
Then I had to leave the PC and it went into standby mode. To my surprise, it asked for a password even though I had selected the “Automatic login” option during installation.
I thought nothing of it until the message came up that my password was incorrect.
I restarted the PC and tried again - the password was wrong again.
I went into the live system and changed the password there without an error message appearing. As a test, I even chose a password without special characters and numbers.
Restarted - password incorrect.

What happened?

I also changed the password via GRUB, with the same result.

The system is now reinstalled.

What else I had done:
I have merged the hard disks as btrfs. But that can’t be the problem, can it?
I did this again after the reinstallation and also rebooted to test it - there were no problems.

Result of following command: garuda-inxi
System:
Kernel: 6.14.9-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=d2ed385d-d3f8-4879-9f31-abecbc11bb5b rw rootflags=subvol=@
vt.default_red=30,243,166,249,137,245,148,186,88,243,166,249,137,245,148,166
vt.default_grn=30,139,227,226,180,194,226,194,91,139,227,226,180,194,226,173
vt.default_blu=46,168,161,175,250,231,213,222,112,168,161,175,250,231,213,200
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.14.0
wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: Z390 Extreme4 serial: <superuser required>
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: P4.30F
date: 09/06/2022
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i7-8700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake
gen: core 8 level: v3 note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xFA
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 6 cores: 6 threads: 12 tpc: 2
smt: enabled cache: L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB
desc: 6x256 KiB L3: 12 MiB desc: 1x12 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/4700 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800
8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800 bogomips: 88796
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600
XT / 5700/5700 XT] vendor: Gigabyte driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-1
code: Navi-1x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2019-20 pcie: gen: 4
speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-3 empty: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1
bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:731f class-ID: 0300
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-3 model: LG (GoldStar) 27GL850 serial: <filter> built: 2019
res: mode: 2560x1440 hz: 144 scale: 114% (1.15) to: 2226x1252 dpi: 109
gamma: 1.2 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27") ratio: 16:9
modes: max: 2560x1440 min: 640x350
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi
wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.1.2-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (radeonsi
navi10 LLVM 19.1.7 DRM 3.61 6.14.9-zen1-1-zen) device-ID: 1002:731f
memory: 7.81 GiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 layers: 10 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
Radeon RX 5700 XT (RADV NAVI10) driver: mesa radv v: 25.1.2-arch1.1
device-ID: 1002:731f surfaces: N/A device: 1 type: cpu name: llvmpipe
(LLVM 19.1.7 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 25.1.2-arch1.1 (LLVM
19.1.7) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info
x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: ASRock driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 HDMI Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab38 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Sharkoon Gaming DAC Pro S
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 31b2:0111 class-ID: 0300
Device-4: Medeli TONOR TM310 shotgun Mic driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB
rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-8:6 chip-ID: 0a67:d090
class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
API: ALSA v: k6.14.9-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: ASRock driver: e1000e v: kernel
port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bc class-ID: 0200
IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN driver: r8152 type: USB rev: 3.2
speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 bus-ID: 2-9:4 chip-ID: 0bda:8156
class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
IF: enp0s20f0u9 state: up speed: 2500 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Actions general adapter driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-3.4:4 chip-ID: 10d7:b012
class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: N/A
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 4.14 TiB used: 62.81 GiB (1.5%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Lexar model: SSD NM790 2TB
size: 1.86 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: SN28192 temp: 35.9 C
ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD1003FZEX-00K3CA0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 1A01
ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD1003FZEX-00K3CA0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 1A01
ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 500GB
size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 4B6Q scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 465.26 GiB size: 4.14 TiB (910.46%) used: 62.81 GiB (1.5%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 512 MiB size: 511 MiB (99.80%)
used: 616 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33
ID-3: /home raw-size: 465.26 GiB size: 4.14 TiB (910.46%)
used: 62.81 GiB (1.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 465.26 GiB size: 4.14 TiB (910.46%)
used: 62.81 GiB (1.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 465.26 GiB size: 4.14 TiB (910.46%)
used: 62.81 GiB (1.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 15.53 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842 max-streams: 12
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 30.0 C pch: 47.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu
temp: 58.0 C mem: 56.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.53 GiB used: 6.85 GiB (44.1%)
Processes: 391 Power: uptime: 7m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 6.19 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1468 libs: 457 tools: octopi,paru Compilers:
gcc: 15.1.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish v: 4.0.2 running-in: konsole
inxi: 3.3.38
Garuda (2.7.2-1):
System install date:     2025-06-05
Last full system update: 2025-06-05 ↻
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
Failed units:

The system cannot and will not change the root password.
How exactly did you change the password in the live ISO and in grub?

If everything works again now, I’m guessing a typo.

1 Like

This has been noticed before, I think it goes a little deeper because this only seems to happen with non-US layouts.

Potential relation:

Interested in thoughts on the disparity here, I think we must update it, as new layouts are available as well as fixes regarding choice logic:

I have now added the result of the command “garuda-inxi”

I have changed the password via Live System:
Mounted the system partition
passwd
and unmounted it

Via GRUB I changed it with the root-shell

1 Like

From my point of view, it was not a typo.
I even tried a password without special characters and numbers, but that didn’t work either.

1 Like

Did you use ventoy and grub2?
Check in micro or kate if it use US keyboard, so just try also 1234 :wink:

Yes

I have already reinstalled, so at the moment it works fine.

But I tried 123456 and Merlin, both didn’t work and at the moment the layout is “de”.

I created that post here because anyone recommended it from telegram channel.

1 Like

I wrote with an User from telegram and he given me a hint:
I mean, I had changed the login shell from “bash” to “fish” with the “Garuda Rani” tool.
Could that be the reason?

Impossible. No relation whatsoever.

It’s much more likely that the live CD simply didn’t change layouts at all. This should be easily verifiable :slight_smile:

3 Likes