[Fedora-livecd-list] how to set root password?

[Brian Cain]

On 4/9/07, pseudo vector <ps3udov3ctor at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to use livecd-creator to make a "permanent" system that
> sits outside of a firewall (i.e. it's assigned a non-dhcp ip address,
> runs ssh for users that need to get into our internal network).
>
> I can not get root login to work though. I have the following lines in
> my livecd-conf file:
>
>         # update user info
>         echo 'root:$1$ncO9QrXs$.f63DbXQniCX41Pb8gMD1' | chpasswd -e
>         passwd -S root
>         useradd -c "SNOOPY User Account" -m -n \
>           -p '$1$2OOvrGlY$M3tBJfc9gfKvThcmqnOgo1' snoopy
>         pwconv
>
> When I boot the livecd though root logins fail with:
> login: pam_unix(login:auth): authentication failure; logname=LOGIN
> uid=0 euid=0 tty=tty1 ruser= rhost= user=root
>
> login: FAILED LOGIN 1 FROM (null) FOR root, Authentication failure
>
> The snoopy user account works fine though (and I can't su to root from
> that account).

That error message looks like a generic authentication failure, but if
you're sure you're typing in the password correctly, I would check the
manpage for sshd_config.  "PermitRootLogin" is one of the options
whose value may need to change.

> I've verified by looking at the livecd image that the password is set
> properly in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. /etc/securetty is also ok.
>
> How does one go about getting root logins on the livecd?

As an alternative, I would recommend adding this to your livecd init
script instead:

echo "snoopy ALL=(ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers

-- 
-Brian