[K12OSN] Help -- Cannot log in as root.

[Sudev Barar]

On 23/01/07, Krsnendu dasa <krsnendu108 at gmail.com> wrote:
> All of a sudden this happened. When I try to log in as root at the
> server, at a thin client, I get the message "The system administrator

I will start with Newtons law of inertia....things do not happen on their own.

> has disabled your account." I also can't connect through PUTTY or
> through NX. What causes this and how can I fix it?
> I can login as a regular user and run system commands through gui when
> prompted for password by gnome but I can't su at the command line.
> I was logging in as root no problems this morning. I have not done
> anything on it since I logged out as root earlier today.
>

Someone else knew password? or were you editing the files passwd or
shadow or group?

> A similar thing happened on an identical computer at a different
> location yesterdat, only I can still NX and ssh in to it.
>

All the more reason to suspect breakin.

> What to do?

Boot from Knoppix or first CD as single user and edit the file
/etc/shadow to leave password field blank for root. While there you
may also want to edit sudoer file to add your self as sudo with all
rights.

Restart the server and login as root with no password. Change root password.

HTH

-- 
Regards,
Sudev Barar