Re: Forgotten root password HELP

[Barry Platt <bplatt@msicam.co.uk>]

At 11:39 31/08/1999 +0100, you wrote:
> Can I recover this installation?

Assuming you're not using shadow passwords, you'll need to boot from the 
rescue disk, switch to an alternative terminal (Alt-F2), press enter for a 
terminal, then mount the root partition of your hard disk.

(e.g.
# mkdir /tmp_root
# mount -t e2fs /dev/hda1 /tmp_root
where hda1 is the device containing /etc (usually the root partition)).

edit the etc/passwd file on that partition and remove the encrypted 
password string (all the stuff between the first and second colons) for the 
root account, save and reboot.

Once that's done you can log in on the console as root with no password, 
and set a new password.

Regards,

Barry
--
Barry Platt (bplatt@msicam.co.uk), Systems Administrator, EU Systems
Molecular Simulations Inc (www.msi.com), a subsidiary of Pharmacopeia Inc
230/250 The Quorum, Barnwell Road, Cambridge CB5 8RE, UK