On Sat, 2007-10-13 at 16:26 +0200, Jan Engelhardt wrote: > On Oct 13 2007 08:03, Glenn Holmer wrote: > >On Friday 12 October 2007 11:16, Jonathan Arnold wrote: > >> Recovering from a broken root password isn't really that hard. The > >> thing to do in the past is to boot into single user mode, but many > >> distros, openSUSE included, now ask for the root password even in > >> that case. > >> > >> Nowadays, you have to boot some Live CD, mount the partition > >> containing the /etc directory of the OS in question, and edit the > >> /etc/shadow file to remove root's password from the password field. > > > >You can just enter "init=/bin/sh" on the Boot Options line of the GRUB > >boot screen. The system will boot straight into bash and you can use > >your favorite editor on /etc/shadow. > > ... which is the way how it has been done ever since. > But you need /bin/bash otherwise you get, as pointed out, a sh-compat shell. > > >After removing the password, use ctrl-alt-delete to restart the machine > >(if you use "exit" or control-D, you get a kernel panic / hard wait). > > Actually, you use > > umount -a > reboot -f > > And I don't see why passwd would not work. Just make sure your root > volume is actually read-write (which is the case when using an initrd > created with suse), otherwise use > > mount / -o remount,rw > > > On Oct 13 2007 09:07, Glenn Holmer wrote: > >On Saturday 13 October 2007 08:48, Randall R Schulz wrote: > >> Technically, when invoked as /bin/sh, BASH operates in its Bourne > >> Shell compatibility mode, which deprives you of many of BASH's > >> innovations. Use /bin/bash to get full functionality. > > > >/bin/sh is a symlink to bash on 10.3 > > That does not matter. When called as sh, it operates in dumb mode.
I have used Unix/Linux for a couple decades and have not yet had a root password issue. But I know there is always tomorrow. I will be keeping this e-mail. Perhaps this is also on the wiki? It is surely good info. If also a bit of a security issue. -- Roger Oberholtzer OPQ Systems / Ramböll RST Ramböll Sverige AB Kapellgränd 7 P.O. Box 4205 SE-102 65 Stockholm, Sweden Tel: Int +46 8-615 60 20 Fax: Int +46 8-31 42 23 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
