Raspberry-Pi : Password Reset-Pi
It happens... In order to connect to the Pi remotely it is strongly recommended to change
the password. You probably have several SD cards, maybe different passwords, ID's and
next thing you know you forgot which password for which Micro SD.
Need to reset the password on the Raspberry Pi
Step 1
Since you can't access the Pi anyway... remove the Micro SD and plug into another PC / Raspberry Pi / Mac / Android so that you can edit the Micro SD card.
Step 2
Edit the file cmdline.txt in the boot partition (See Connect page for the Notepad++ app. )
Add init=/bin/sh to the end of the line. Do NOT hit the Enter key, just save
Step 3
You may now eject and put the MicroSD into the Pi and power it up
Step 4
When you get to a prompt enter the following
mount -o remount, rw /
if you get any errors just try it again.
you may now run the password utility
passwd pi
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Now type
sync
exec /sbin/init
and finally
sudo halt
Step 5
Remove the MicroSD card, and edit the cmdline.txt file
and remove init=/bin/sh .