Re: Can't su to root as a normal user

[Olive <olive.lin@versateladsl.be>]

Shang Wenbin wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> After reinstall my system, I can't su to root now. the error is :
> su: Authentication failure
> I ensure that I am using the correct password
>
> Any suggestion is appreciate. Thanks

Try to reset the root password.

At the lilo boot prompt type

Linux init=/bin/bash

(where Linux is the name of the "image": the one you see in the menu; if 
you use grub; adapt the instructions). At the prompt type

mount -o remount rw /
passwd
<type the new password>
umount /

and reboot.

If lilo (or grub) as been configured to disallow this; boot from a CD in 
rescue state (I think you can boot from the first CD and choose go into 
console) mount your root partition

mkdir /myrootpart
mount /dev/had<n> /myrootpart (where n refer to your root partition)
chroot myrootpart
passwd
<type the new password>
exit
umount /myrootpart

and reboot

olive