Hi everyone,
I tried to replace windows 7 on a 2012 HP Pavilion dv6 laptop, downloaded ubuntu-mate.24.04.03 iso and used Unetbootin to create a USB-Live persistent drive, but it only works as non-persistent.
Then I installed Mate on HDD and configured username and password, but can't get to open my session as it returns message ‘invalid username or password’.
if you have any idea what went wrong and how to sort it out I'd be very grateful!
Tell me if you need additional information
Welcome, Dom!
There is a post here that goes through the steps of creating a bootable, persistent USB drive. It's not recent, but unetbootin hasn't changed in many years. Maybe you'll find it helpful.
The only suggestion I have for the userid/password issue is a re-install. Chances are that you mist-typed one or the other, and attempting to resurrect your credentials would take more time than simply re-installing. Sorry. I've been there, so don't feel bad.
Hi, @Dom1 and welcome to the Ubuntu MATE Community!
Just in case you might want to try password recovery before reinstalling, perform Internet search using the following prompt ubuntu live cd chroot change user password to overview possible scenarios.
E.g.
Thx for replying, I already tried and re-installed Mate but nothing changed and there was no mistyping. The post linked might help, if only I could run Unetbootin in a live session, which doesn't seem to work as I got
I typed the command lines then nothing happened…
A detail to be mentioned is I used a USB 3.0 drive but have to plug it into 2.0 slot otherwise it doesn't boot (BIOS seems to ignore 3.0 slots)
Hope you like tricky stuff 
If you interrupt the boot process (pressing ESC), you might get into a GRUB menu which shows the kernel used and in the next line the same kernel used (Recovery). If you select the Recovery it might drop you to a root shell and from there you can change the user's password.
Assume your username is dom, #passwd dom <newpw>
There are other ways to fix the user's pw but I don't know how skilled you're in Linux.
As the usb3, HP requires a driver to activate them. usb3 on the left, usb2 on the right.
If trying to install Unetbootin on my 24.4.3 I get the message: Unable to locate package unetbootin
So I am using MKUSB instead:
https: //launchpad.net/~mkusb/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
and
https://ostechnix.com/how-to-create-persistent-live-usb-on-ubuntu/
W
The latest version of unetbootin can be found here: UNetbootin - Linux Downloads
I've used it for years on the Mac platform, but never needed it on Linux.
Why are you using Windows when Linux is clearly better ?
Hi!
I'm not using W7 anymore and have been using ubuntu (last version 18.04) for over 13 years but as it was installed on dual boot the partition got too small and couldn't run or upgrade, so I decided to switch to ubuntu only and chose Mate to fit my old laptop.
Sounds easy but not that much really…
Hi Pavlos,
I am a basic Linux user, with no coding knowledge unfortunately.
I tried your suggestion but I don't reach a grub menu, just see below
Seems to be HP standard startup settings, where do I go from there ? F11 didn't restore anything.
Thanks for your help
Hi, thx for replying.
I tried your suggestion and used mkusb to create a new persistent live-usb but the link to ostechnix should be updated as it explains the method for mkusb 12 and the version I got from launchpad is mkusb 24.
So I tried and guessed what to choose when different from what was shown, e.g
Then I got the final message ‘normal termination, done:-)’ plus something about cleaning.
Checked the key, shut down, plugged the key, switched on…
And nothing 
Where the hell did I go wrong?
finally I
-reinstalled Mate for the 3rd time on internal hard drive, from unetbootin live-usb,
-set another password, unchecked the box ‘ask for password when opening session’
-went through the install process, reboot, personalized desktop
-logged out and back in–> ALL FINE!
-shut down, switched back on–> RUNS PERFECTLY 
, no pswd asked, all settings saved
I guess the previous installations had encountered mistakes that led to this mess…
and I didn’t solve the live-usb persistency problem, but never mind
thank you all anyway, Oldstrummer picked the right solution!
