Big dummy lost SU password...

Big dummy lost SU password...

[Jamie Risk]

Due in parts to brain fog and the remarkable stability of Linux, I've not
had to adminster my Linux box for over 8 months.  Because of Windows Admin
tinkering, my samba server has stopped working and I need to modify it's
configuration.

Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd
make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts
that I've been so happily been using?

I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such will allow me
to avoid rebuilding my system.

- Jamie (if I rember correctly)



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Re: Big dummy lost SU password...

[Chris Mann]

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On Fri, 2003-07-11 at 11:28, Jamie Risk wrote:
> Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd
> make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts
> that I've been so happily been using?
if you boot of a boot disk and type: Linux 1 (IIRC) you should be dumped
to a shell. From there, it's as simple as passwd and enter your new root
password.
-- 
Christopher Mann
Systems Administrator
Stonebridge Bank
cmann@stonebridgebank.com

*This email has been digitally signed using GnuPG.*

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Re: Big dummy lost SU password...

[Ray Olszewski]

At 11:28 AM 7/11/2003 -0400, Jamie Risk wrote:
>Due in parts to brain fog and the remarkable stability of Linux, I've not
>had to adminster my Linux box for over 8 months.  Because of Windows Admin
>tinkering, my samba server has stopped working and I need to modify it's
>configuration.
>
>Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd
>make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts
>that I've been so happily been using?
>
>I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such will allow me
>to avoid rebuilding my system.
>
>- Jamie (if I rember correctly)

I hope I am not misunderstanding your question.

The easiest way to fix this problem, with a machine you have physical 
access to and can reboot, is to reboot it (itself a bit of a problem if you 
do not know the root password, but possibly the CTRL-ALT-DEL method will 
work ... this depends *entirely* on specifics of your install, though) and 
use any suitable rescue disk (tomsrtbt, your distro's rescue floppy, most 
any bootable iso image) that you find convenient. (What is "suitable" 
depends on details you haven't told us, like whether the hard disk with the 
root (/) partition is IDE or SCSI and whether the system even has a floppy 
drive.)

Then mount the "real" root (/) partition at some handy location (like /mnt) 
on the "rescue"  root partition and use vi (or any suitable text editor) to 
edit /mnt/etc/passwd and/or /mnt/etc/shadow to remove the old root password.

Then reboot the "real" version of Linux (ideally without network access, 
since it is momentarily VERY insecure), become root (no password required, 
if you did the prior part right), and set a new root password the usual way.



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Re: Big dummy lost SU password...

[rob.rice]

Jamie Risk wrote:

>Due in parts to brain fog and the remarkable stability of Linux, I've not
>had to adminster my Linux box for over 8 months.  Because of Windows Admin
>tinkering, my samba server has stopped working and I need to modify it's
>configuration.
>
>Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd
>make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts
>that I've been so happily been using?
>
>I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such will allow me
>to avoid rebuilding my system.
>
>- Jamie (if I rember correctly)
>
>
>
>-
>To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
>the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
>More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
>
>  
>
there single floppy linuxes like tomsrtbt that will run in ram and let 
you use most linux commands to edit the etc files
I might be wrong on this but as far as I know  chroot will ask for 
root's password you may have to delete root's pass word from 
/etc/shadow  befor you run passwd depending on the distro just deleting 
root's pass word will get you in as root with no pass word

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RE: Big dummy lost SU password...

[Puneet B]

> >Is there a way I can mount mylinux box (say from a bootable ISO image I'd
> >make) to reset the root user password and not goof up the other accounts
> >that I've been so happily been using?
> >
> >I'm hoping that combinations of commands like chroot and such
> will allow me
> >to avoid rebuilding my system.
>
> there single floppy linuxes like tomsrtbt that will run in ram and let
> you use most linux commands to edit the etc files
> I might be wrong on this but as far as I know  chroot will ask for
> root's password you may have to delete root's pass word from
> /etc/shadow  befor you run passwd depending on the distro just deleting
> root's pass word will get you in as root with no pass word

If your distribution (Redhat does) supports a 'rescue mode' on its install
CD then you can use that:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/s1-rescue
mode-boot.html
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.2-Manual/custom-guide/rescuem
ode.html

or, you could boot into single user mode at the LILO prompt using
'linux single' or 'linux init s'. That'll give you a root prompt
where you can try editing /etc/passwd or using passwd.

Puneet


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