How do I remove the root login password on the U3800A Intel Edison?

In the event you know the password of root login, follow the procedure below to remove:

1. Start WinSCP and login as root with password that you have configured previously.
2. Navigate to “/etc” folder in Edison and look for a file named “shadow”

   

3. Open the file named “shadow” with Internal Editor of WinSCP.

   

4. Look for the username – “root” in the shadow file.

   a. Delete everything (as highlighted in yellow in the example below) in between the first and second colon (:). Be caution not to delete the 2 colons, otherwise it will cause password corruption and you will have to reflash Edison firmware to recover the login and access.

   b. Set number in second field (as highlighted in blue in the example below) to number like other user name in the shadow file (“daemon” is referred to in example below). You may have different set of number from the example.

   

   c. Save and close the shadow file. Log out from WinSCP.

5. Unplug and plug the 2 USB cables connected to U3800A, to reboot Edison. Login into Edison with PuTTY with serial connection. You should be able to login in as root without password.

In the event the password has been misplaced and you are no longer able to login to Intel Edison, you will need to reflash Intel Edison firmware, which will delete all data from the intel Edison, including content and settings. You can find the firmware flashing procedure from Keysight U3800 Series IoT Applied Courseware User Manual under section Setup->Flash Intel Edison Firmware. After completing firmware flashing, you also will need to restore the auto boot up display on the training kit. The step-by-step procedure can be found under Auto Boot Up Display Setup in the user manual.