Opera Browser

[Cloverjo]

My dad is trying to install Opera on his desktop PC, running Windows XP, I thnk. He has managed to download it, but then it asks him for a password. He has tried all his usual passwords, but none work. Which password is it looking for and why does it need one when he's just trying to install a browser? Thanks for any ideas.

[Gromit]

Presumably it is the administrator password for his pc. Permission needed to install new software.

[Cloverjo]

Ok, thanks, gromit. I don't know what that could be. It's quite an old computer. I'll try a couple of possibilities when I next go to see him. Thanks.

[VHG]

Make sure he downloads it from the Opera web site.

http://www.opera.com/

Some web sites offer products like Opera but they package malware and viruses inside the software so it can be dangerous.

Also he should really get OFF Windows XP.

Not supported, security fixes no longer be provided by Microsoft and leaving himself open to all sorts of security issues.

I hope he does not do online banking with it as that is very risky.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks VHG. The only reason he wants to install Opera is because the computer keeps crashing, and he was thinking that a different browser might stop this happening. Is this likely to help?
He doesn't use online banking, and I'll make sure he's getting Opera from the correct website. Thank again.

[Cloverjo]

A small update to my problem above. The computer is running Linux, not Windows, and the password required is an administrator's password. My son installed Linux but doesn't remember setting an admin password. In any case, we've tried all of mine, my son's and my dad's possible passwords but none work. Is there a way to find the password, please?

[pinkyboyid]

If you are running linux, then you may be able to reset the password for the master admin account named 'root'. With that you then can login using the account name of 'root' and that will enable you to reset your actual linux user account name via the user account management configuration program / panel.

See: - http://linuxconfig.org/recover-reset-forgotten-linux-root-password

If you are running a version of Linux called 'Ubuntu' you may be able to reset your actual user account password as follows:

- Reboot your computer.
- Hold the 'Shift' key during bootup to startup the 'GRUB' menu.
- Highlight your boot image from the displayed and press E to edit.
- Find the line starting with "linux" and append the text rw init=/bin/bash at the end of that line.
- Press Ctrl + X to boot.
- When reboot completes, type in the text 'passwd username' (where username is the actual account name you are attempting to reset).
- Set your password.

or some other methods to try if using Ubuntu are:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LostPassword


Hope that works for you.

[pinkyboyid]

I should have added in my last post that the the root admin password is most likely the password that the Opera installation is requesting for the system security to allow the installation to commence.

So in that case you will need to set the root password for sure.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks, pinkyboyid. I'll try that next time I'm there in a couple of days.

[hanhtrinhxanh20]

You cacn think about the older Opera, it may not ask for a password

[Cloverjo]

Further update. Thanks, pinkyboyid. I managed to reset the root password thanks to your instructions. However, I still couldn't download the required parts of Opera for some reason. A part called Libcurl3 wouldn't download. I tried Chrome instead of Opera, but 61 parts of that wouldn't download.
Hanhtrinh, I couldn't find an older version of Opera to try.
Thanks for all replies so far. I'm not sure it's worth any more hassle.

[pinkyboyid]

Well, my 'commiserations' because from my experience with maintaining Linux systems, it is a very 'unfriendly' user environment for managing and updating installations when compared to a Microsoft Windows environment.

For info, the libcurl3 message is the system installation complaining that it needs the 'Curl' program suite to perform the install task, which it cannot find in the Linux library system files. So, it needs to be downloaded and made available ready for the Opera Installation and most likely the Chrome also.

If you want to give it a go at downloading and installing libcurl3 you first need to Run a 'Terminal' application which is usually found in the Linux Administration menus, depending on the version of Linux you are running.

If you mange to find and run the 'Terminal' program it will open up a command prompt window in which you can try typing the following text and press the keyboard enter key to invoke it:-

sudo apt-get install libcurl4-gnutls-dev

It will request you to enter a password which will be your Linux logon password.

If Linux likes that command it will go fetch and install various library package programs from a Linux web store. If it completes successfully, try your Opera installation again.

Hope that works ok.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks for your further help, pinkyboyid. I won't have a chance to try it until Saturday. Will give feedback then.
I don't know why my son felt he needed to install Linux on his grandad's computer, anyway. Grrr..

[pinkyboyid]

Re my last post, on reflection it may be worth using the following command in place of the one shown, which will update your Linux system with the latest repository files, including any missing libcurl3 files:-

Follow previous instructions to run a Terminal session then,
replace
'sudo apt-get install libcurl4-gnutls-dev'
with
sudo apt-get update

and enter your logon password when requested.

[Cloverjo]

Hi again, pinkyboyid. I tried both of your suggestions re downloading libcurl, but neither worked. I get lots of error messages saying that it failed to fetch lots of archives, and others mention Ubuntu.com saucy-security i386 packages, among other things.

[pinkyboyid]

From what you describe in your last post, it indicates that you are possibly running a version of UBuntu Linux.

To try and correct your system problems, which may be due to possible file corruption issues, you could try upgrading your UBuntu to the latest version. There are two methods to do this, one that involves selecting and launching an upgrade process from within your logon session.

The second option is to download an installation .iso file from UBuntu.com and create a bootable CD/DVD install/upgrade Disk from which you then bootup and commence the upgrade process from there.

Suggest you try the first option for which you will find some instructions on the Ubuntu.com web site on how to perform this.

See:- http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/upgrade

Hope that helps.

[Cloverjo]

Thank you again, pinkyboyid. I think I'll try the first option next time I'm at my dad's house. The second one sounds a bit scary! I'm grateful for your help.