Re: problem with corrupted root password

[Gary Dale <garydale@torfree.net>]

On 14/01/15 04:26 PM, Rob Owens wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 03:07:09PM -0500, Comer Duncan wrote:
> > I recently got wheezy up and running.  I installed xfce4 and like it.
> >
> > However, today in the process of trying to spawn a root terminal (in
> > Accessories) and going through a cycle of trying to get authorized but
> > being prevented by repeated complaints that the system password I used was
> > not correct, I now find that I can not get logged in in single-user mode!
> > I have thus royally screwed up.  So, how can I get the system password
> > changed to something new?
> >
> > Thanks for help and apologies for making such an error.
> Boot using a Live CD, then as root:
>
> mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1 (or whatever device is your root partition)
> chroot /mnt/sda1
> passwd
I'd change the chroot command to
  chroot /mnt/sda1 bash

to ensure you get the correct shell. System Rescue CD, for example, uses 
zsh by default so chrooting with specifying the shell will get you a 
not-found error.