Re: New on Debian

["nate" <debian-user@aphroland.org>]

debianoverdunes said:
> Hello out there¡
>
> Being new to debian makes me ask some boring questions but I feeeeel like
> walking over dunes in the sahara. How do I suppose to get into my debian
> system as root if a can't remeber the root password? I have no intention
> of reinstalling the system. Sure there's most be a way to recover it or a
> workaround. Hope you can lead me to the oasis.


come on! ask something hard! :)

easiest way, if your using LILO is when you see the LILO prompt hit
the shift key, the LILO: prompt should show then type in:
linux init=/bin/bash

it should boot to a shell, once your in the shell type:
mount / -o remount,rw

then edit /etc/shadow and delete the stuff inbetween the first and
second colons on the first line to erase the password so it should
look something like:
root::11864:0:99999:7:::

save & exit the editor

then do
mount / -o remount,ro

(and reboot)

second way is to boot with the install CD, open a terminal on TTY2
(ALT+F2 when installer finishes loading), and mount the partition,
do the same thing.

if you have /usr as another partition you may need to mount that
to get access to some of the editors(maybe all of the editors)

nate