[K12OSN] Root password corrupts ?

Jim Wildman jim at rossberry.com
Sat Mar 12 01:06:51 UTC 2005


On Fri, 11 Mar 2005, Barry R Cisna wrote:

>     Ive had to reformat a few times do to this very problem! ( ugh)...
>     I had know way of correcting the "trashed" password..

I don't know about Webmin, but all you don't need to rebuild the box to
recover the password.

1) get on the console, then reset the box.  When the grub menu comes up,
hit 'e' to enter the edit mode.  Cursor to the 'kernel' line.  Hit 'e'
again.  Cursor to the end of the line and add ' 1'.  Hit ESC, then 'b'
to boot.  You will be brought into single user mode (as root) and will
be able to reset the password.  When it's reset, either reboot the box,
or do a 'telinit 3' or 'telinit 5' to get back to your normal run level.
(Adjust as necessary for grub passwords, etc)

2) If you've locked out single user mode via inittab options, then get a
bootable CD (the first cd of a RH set is a good one).  Reboot the box
with the CD.  At the boot: prompt, type 'linux rescue'.  It should bring
you into a single user mode with everything mounted.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Wildman, CISSP, RHCE       jim at rossberry.com http://www.rossberry.com
"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best
state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
Thomas Paine




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