I can not entered root password via terminal while doing this it replied incorrect password even same password can be used from another GUI box.
When I tried to use command Clt+Alt+F1, only black screen comes. I am using coreutils 8.4-9.fc13 from fedora of 32 bits
Can anybody help me

Welcome to LQ

Make sure the keyboard layout in the terminal is correct.
Try Clt+Alt+F6

Kind regards

can you post your /etc/securetty file's content

Hi, i am having same problem and getting incorrect password error when i try to connect root after connecting any user like su -

please help

Try to reset your root password.
Entering Recovery Mode

While you system is starting up, hold down the Esc to see the boot loader menu. After you see the menu:

Use the arrows to select the boot entry you want to modify.
Press e to edit the entry.
Use the arrows to go to kernel line.
Press a or e to append this entry.
At the end of the line add the word single or the number 1.
Press Enter to accept the changes.
Press b to boot this kernel.

A series of text messages scrolls by and after a short time, a root prompt appears awaiting your commands (#).

Now change your root password using
# sudo passwd root

Hi, i tried that but it is not happening with me

i am running my machine on VMware i tried Esc then e and on kernel line typed single and pressed enter after that i press b to boot from that line but it doesnt stop on # to perform command.... it takes me to login screen directly after booting

Perhaps I am missing something (it would not be the first time), but why use sudo if already logged in as root (#)?

Ya but using sudo is a good habit because you can't be the root on every server and if you want to save time and do not want to see the permission denied message, I think we can use sudo on root.
Root wouldn't charge for it :-)
Actually I was not sure about the user that's why I said sudo. I think this is the problem, OP is not able to reach on command prompt.

@Fuzail - Are you using ESXi 3.5, ESXi 4.x, or ESXi 5.x ?

You're missing the point. The user is ALREADY AT A ROOT PROMPT. Typing in 'sudo' is meaningless, and gets you nothing. And I've never had root 'charge' for anything. You need to read up on what sudo is/does...it gives a 'regular' user root level access to run commands. So, why would root NEED ANOTHER COMMAND TO GET ROOT LEVEL ACCESS????
Fuzail, how are you rebooting the system, if you don't have root access? If you're using sudo, you can either:

• Type in "sudo init S", and you'll be at a command-line with root access. Change the password there.
• Type in "sudo vi /etc/shadow", and remove all the text between the first two colons ( on the line that begins with root. That will remove root's password, letting you do an "su - root"
• Type in "sudo passwd root" and change it.

And you can just try pressing a key at the grub menu, to halt the auto-boot process. You should then be able to enter a single S, and press ENTER for single-user mode. But, you have not told us what version/distro of Linux you're using, under what kind of VMware, or what version of Grub, so things behave differently. Without details, no one can help you.

this is a very bad practice and possibly dangerous. You should avoid using sudo "on the fly".

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