Need Help: How to recover back the root password

Hi,

I left my Linux installation for almost a year and didn't remember what
was the root password. Can someone to help me to reset the root password?

Thanks ~~

- Mike

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While drooling on their shoelaces, Mike spouted:
> Hi,
>
> I left my Linux installation for almost a year and didn't remember what
> was the root password. Can someone to help me to reset the root password?
>
> Thanks ~~
>
> - Mike

If you just want to reset it, start the machine with a linux boot
floppy/cd. Tomsrtbt on a floppy works well for this, gentoo minimal
cd's work well, phlak/knoppix/pick_your_live_cd all work for this
purpose.

Mount the drive/partition that has your installation's /etc
directory

edit the shadow file found in that directory

on the line that starts with root, delete the characters BETWEEN the
first and second colons. Make sure that you ONLY delete the
characters between the first and second colons and that you leave
the colons in the file.

reboot and you _should_ be able to login as root with no password. I
login as a regular user then 'su' to change the password - good
practice to never login as root.

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Kevin Wilcox <kw34272EMAILREAPERS@HATECAPSappstate.edu> wrote:
| If you just want to reset it, start the machine with a linux boot
| floppy/cd. Tomsrtbt on a floppy works well for this, gentoo minimal
| cd's work well, phlak/knoppix/pick_your_live_cd all work for this
| purpose.

Or even simpler, boot to single-user mode by adding "single" to the
kernel command line. Then use "passwd" to set a new password.

--
Dick Streefland //// Altium BV
dick.streefland@altium.nl (@ @) http://www.altium.com
--------------------------------oOO--(_)--OOo---------------------------

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Dick Streefland wrote:
> Kevin Wilcox <kw34272EMAILREAPERS@HATECAPSappstate.edu> wrote:
> | If you just want to reset it, start the machine with a linux boot
> | floppy/cd. Tomsrtbt on a floppy works well for this, gentoo minimal
> | cd's work well, phlak/knoppix/pick_your_live_cd all work for this
> | purpose.
>
> Or even simpler, boot to single-user mode by adding "single" to the
> kernel command line. Then use "passwd" to set a new password.

That might not work. Quite a few distros implement a login process even
for "linux single" boots. All the OP is likely to get is a login prompt
that asks for his password, but in single user mode.


- --

Lew Pitcher, IT Consultant, Enterprise Data Systems
Enterprise Technology Solutions, TD Bank Financial Group

(Opinions expressed here are my own, not my employer's)
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I used a mini-version Live Linux (CDLinux Size: 18MB) CD to boot the
Redhat system, then mount the /dev/hda for editing /etc/shadow's root entry
without any problem.

After mounting the /dev/hda and the /dev/hda will be treated a collection
of data files and then Iit should has no problem for editing.

Thanks for hint and save my time to reinstall.

- Mike
"Lew Pitcher" <Lew.Pitcher@td.com> ???
news:Tyqnd.33464$rc.1949845@news20.bellglobal.com ???...
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>
> Dick Streefland wrote:
> > Kevin Wilcox <kw34272EMAILREAPERS@HATECAPSappstate.edu> wrote:
> > | If you just want to reset it, start the machine with a linux boot
> > | floppy/cd. Tomsrtbt on a floppy works well for this, gentoo minimal
> > | cd's work well, phlak/knoppix/pick_your_live_cd all work for this
> > | purpose.
> >
> > Or even simpler, boot to single-user mode by adding "single" to the
> > kernel command line. Then use "passwd" to set a new password.
>
> That might not work. Quite a few distros implement a login process even
> for "linux single" boots. All the OP is likely to get is a login prompt
> that asks for his password, but in single user mode.
>
>
> - --
>
> Lew Pitcher, IT Consultant, Enterprise Data Systems
> Enterprise Technology Solutions, TD Bank Financial Group
>
> (Opinions expressed here are my own, not my employer's)
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> fELZSj4cOgWfH5EWvey8PGM=
> =5ZAi
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While drooling on their shoelaces, Lew Pitcher spouted:
>
> Dick Streefland wrote:
>> Kevin Wilcox <kw34272EMAILREAPERS@HATECAPSappstate.edu> wrote:
>> | If you just want to reset it, start the machine with a linux boot
>> | floppy/cd. Tomsrtbt on a floppy works well for this, gentoo minimal
>> | cd's work well, phlak/knoppix/pick_your_live_cd all work for this
>> | purpose.
>>
>> Or even simpler, boot to single-user mode by adding "single" to the
>> kernel command line. Then use "passwd" to set a new password.
>
> That might not work. Quite a few distros implement a login process even
> for "linux single" boots. All the OP is likely to get is a login prompt
> that asks for his password, but in single user mode.

Exactly. I've tried booting single user a few times and had to enter
the password of whoever I was wanting to login as. It was a rather
nice security feature, though a wee counter-productive at the time
;)

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On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 22:40:48 GMT, Kevin Wilcox
<kw34272EMAILREAPERS@HATECAPSappstate.edu> wrote:

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>While drooling on their shoelaces, Lew Pitcher spouted:
>>
>> Dick Streefland wrote:
>>> Kevin Wilcox <kw34272EMAILREAPERS@HATECAPSappstate.edu> wrote:
>>> | If you just want to reset it, start the machine with a linux boot
>>> | floppy/cd. Tomsrtbt on a floppy works well for this, gentoo minimal
>>> | cd's work well, phlak/knoppix/pick_your_live_cd all work for this
>>> | purpose.
>>>
>>> Or even simpler, boot to single-user mode by adding "single" to the
>>> kernel command line. Then use "passwd" to set a new password.
>>
>> That might not work. Quite a few distros implement a login process even
>> for "linux single" boots. All the OP is likely to get is a login prompt
>> that asks for his password, but in single user mode.
>
>Exactly. I've tried booting single user a few times and had to enter
>the password of whoever I was wanting to login as. It was a rather
>nice security feature, though a wee counter-productive at the time
>;)
>
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Yeah, that was a real nice feature when the disk drive was
partially trashed and the only thing I could do was single-user login
to root to try to recover the partition table. Didn't really want to
mess around with passwords at that point.
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