Hello

I have got myself into a big fix. I forgot my root password and add to that i set the timeout in the lilo.conf to 0. So the lilo loader does not come up at all, it directly boots into linux.

how do i recover the root password now?

thanks in advance

regards
jayakrishnan

I see that you use RedHat, if this is so you can boot up with the install cd and use the rescue option in the menu. After your system is mounted under what I believe is /mnt/sysimage, you can cd into that directory like
cd /mnt/sysimage
then run
passwd root (you may not need the root)
then change your password.

Then your good to go.

later
eric

hi

Thanks for the reply. But i already tried to do that. but i got lost inside the sysimage directory . Is there any simple way to change the root password.

regards
jayakrishnan

That is the simple way. Other than not forgetting roots password.
Just do
cd /mnt/sysimage
or to make sure where you are at each step
cd /mnt
ls (this should list sysimage)
cd /sysimage
ls (this should list your linux partition and all the folders, ie /sbin .etc

then try
/sbin/passwd

that is the only way i know how to gain root access again, short of remembering it.

late
eric

hello

Thanks for the eariler reply. i tried to find the /etc/passwd file. but coudn't find it. even lilo.conf file is missing.

Generally I do the following if I'm in trouble

boot from red hat cdrom
type linux rescue

In rescue mode
$mkdir help
$mount /dev/hdaX help

Here instead of X put appropriate no. which represents ur root

$chroot help

and try to solve my prob

HTH

do you not have a boot disk to load from? if you have theat then you hsould load into your system using "linux single" or "linux init 1" and run passwd there. as for the rescue mode, run "mount" to see where the partitions are actaully mounted, and change to the correct diroectory accordingly, and change them there. as you say lilo.conf or passwd are missing, then it suggest you'r not looking in the right place at all. it'll be /mnt/sysimage/etc/ or something. you'll need to hack around a bit withthe lilo.conf file in order to reinstall it, as all teh paths will be different and so forth.

and can i ask you use more useful thread titles in futures, thanks