Big dummy lost SU password...
Due in parts to brain fog and the remarkable stability of Linux, I've not had to adminster my Linux box for over 8 months. Because of Windows Admin tinkering, my samba server has stopped working and I need to modify it's configuration.
Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts that I've been so happily been using?
I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such will allow me to avoid rebuilding my system.
- Jamie (if I rember correctly)
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Quoted 3 lines · Jamie Risk
Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts that I've been so happily been using?
if you boot of a boot disk and type: Linux 1 (IIRC) you should be dumped to a shell. From there, it's as simple as passwd and enter your new root password.
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Christopher Mann Systems Administrator Stonebridge Bank [email protected] *This email has been digitally signed using GnuPG.*
Quoted 5 lines · Jamie Risk
Due in parts to brain fog and the remarkable stability of Linux, I've not had to adminster my Linux box for over 8 months. Because of Windows Admin tinkering, my samba server has stopped working and I need to modify it's configuration.
Quoted 8 lines
Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts that I've been so happily been using?
I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such will allow me to avoid rebuilding my system.
- Jamie (if I rember correctly)
I hope I am not misunderstanding your question.
The easiest way to fix this problem, with a machine you have physical access to and can reboot, is to reboot it (itself a bit of a problem if you do not know the root password, but possibly the CTRL-ALT-DEL method will work ... this depends *entirely* on specifics of your install, though) and use any suitable rescue disk (tomsrtbt, your distro's rescue floppy, most any bootable iso image) that you find convenient. (What is "suitable" depends on details you haven't told us, like whether the hard disk with the root (/) partition is IDE or SCSI and whether the system even has a floppy drive.)
Then mount the "real" root (/) partition at some handy location (like /mnt) on the "rescue" root partition and use vi (or any suitable text editor) to edit /mnt/etc/passwd and/or /mnt/etc/shadow to remove the old root password.
Then reboot the "real" version of Linux (ideally without network access, since it is momentarily VERY insecure), become root (no password required, if you did the prior part right), and set a new root password the usual way.
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Quoted 16 lines · Jamie Risk
Due in parts to brain fog and the remarkable stability of Linux, I've not had to adminster my Linux box for over 8 months. Because of Windows Admin tinkering, my samba server has stopped working and I need to modify it's configuration.
Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts that I've been so happily been using?
I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such will allow me to avoid rebuilding my system.
- Jamie (if I rember correctly)
Quoted 8 lines
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Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
there single floppy linuxes like tomsrtbt that will run in ram and let you use most linux commands to edit the etc files
I might be wrong on this but as far as I know chroot will ask for root's password you may have to delete root's pass word from /etc/shadow befor you run passwd depending on the distro just deleting root's pass word will get you in as root with no pass word
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Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 5 lines
Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts that I've been so happily been using?
I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such
will allow me
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to avoid rebuilding my system.
there single floppy linuxes like tomsrtbt that will run in ram and let you use most linux commands to edit the etc files
I might be wrong on this but as far as I know chroot will ask for root's password you may have to delete root's pass word from/etc/shadowbefor you run passwd depending on the distro just deleting root's pass word will get you in as root with no pass word
If your distribution (Redhat does) supports a 'rescue mode' on its install CD then you can use that:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/s1-rescue
mode-boot.html
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.2-Manual/custom-guide/rescuem
ode.html
or, you could boot into single user mode at the LILO prompt using 'linux single' or 'linux init s'. That'll give you a root prompt where you can try editing /etc/passwd or using passwd.
Puneet
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