If Linux tablet, it can hopefully mount Ext4 rootfs, so root access and then I would edit the <mountpoint>/etc/shadow file, line with root: entry and put / copy-paste a hash there of a known password. Then you can login on 1st boot as root and run raspi-config or just use normal Linux commands to add a user and setup things. Change cmdline , parttition table, fstab etc as well
In the past there was usually a default root password for pre-installed images so for whatever distro you had to read wikis or so what it was. Even then, edit of shadow file might be faster.
I mostly use fresh images to see what is in it, what the defaults are for example. So loopmount and do systemd-nspawn -b -D <rootfs mountpoint>, so get a bit more info. Edit shadow file in another terminal window. Note: I use various ARM64 computers as desktop, so easy running ARM pre-installed images, no emulation needed.
In the past there was usually a default root password for pre-installed images so for whatever distro you had to read wikis or so what it was. Even then, edit of shadow file might be faster.
I mostly use fresh images to see what is in it, what the defaults are for example. So loopmount and do systemd-nspawn -b -D <rootfs mountpoint>, so get a bit more info. Edit shadow file in another terminal window. Note: I use various ARM64 computers as desktop, so easy running ARM pre-installed images, no emulation needed.
Statistics: Posted by redvli — Wed Jun 25, 2025 6:54 am