Good Afternoon,

Upon trying to work on my school project this morning, I am running into a problem trying to ssh/log in with a root account; the system won't take my credentials. Although I am positive of the password I am typing, I have decided to reset my root password. After booting into single user mode and trying the "passwd" command, I receive the error:

passwd: Authentication token manipulation error
screenshot:http://i44.tinypic.com/2afwqab.jpg

Any help is greatly appreciated as this project is 70% percent of my grade. What other options do I have to get this resolved without re-installing?

Hi obi1andKobe,

Welcome to LQ!!!

Do you have selinux enabled? If yes then when you edit kernel line in grub menu at the time of boot (for booting in single user mode) put following at the end as well and then give it a try:

Thank you for the warm welcome and quick advice. Unfortunately, I am still getting the same error. Any other suggestions that I can do?

Alright.

I was able to duplicate your issue by renaming my /etc/shadow file :-) Check if you have got /etc/shadow file or not? If it does not exist then look for /etc/shadow-. If /etc/shadow- file does exist then copy it as /etc/shadow using the following command:

And then try to set root password.

1 members found this post helpful.

I tried this command and it seems to have fixed the problem.

" The pwconv command creates shadow from passwd and an optionally
existing shadow"



I am testing now; but after running that passwd worked as it should. Thanks for pointing in the right direction.

I have not logged into my LINUX box for a long time (almost 2 years, pc keyboard was missing some keys and I just got a new keyboard for it and installed it) I am bad LINUX admin.

I can not remember my user login password or my root password.

I found this http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Debian_reset_root_password on how to get into single user but when I tried to reset the password with passwd I got the same error as obi1andKobe.

I tried setting selinux to 0 and when I look for the /etc/shadow file there is one (from feb 10 2012, I guess the last time I logged in).

I can not do anything with the shadow file I keep getting the message that the file system is READ-ONLY.

exact message reads "rm: cannot remove 'shadow': Read-only file system"

please help I really want to start using my Linux again I have missed it.