Reset Raspberry Pi Password Offline

These instructions apply not just to a Raspberry Pi, but many Linux distributions. If you forgot the password to your Pi, worry not, it’s possible to reset it without re-installing.

Take the SD card out of your Pi and plug it into another computer with an SD card reader.
Open the SDCARD/etc/shadow file on your Raspberry Pi

Look down the list for your user name. It should look like this.

pi:$6$R0iLJW7j$1eWDasdXcPQv2dQv5xcUnDew/VU/pur0ZbMi8RgdsaLtd6uzCyMuvZK7r9ZVmo0:15871:0:99999:7:::

Delete everything between the first and second colon (:)
Save the shadow file.
You just blanked out your password. Plug the SD card back into your Pi and boot up.
You should now be able to sign in using a blank password.

This article was last edited over 3 years ago. Information here may no longer be accurate. Please proceed with caution, and feel free to contact me.