usermod but pwd not encrypted

drpeck · 11-11-2008, 05:48 AM

Hi,

I'm an idiot and didn't read the usermod documentation correctly. I changed the password but entered it in clear text, but I'm guessing I should have used passwd to enter it in an encrypted state right? WAA WAA!

I know what password I entered, but is this of any use or do I have to reset the password as per other threads on this site (Can't submit URL as it is my first post).

I might just reinstall linux if so, as it is almost a fresh install anyway.

Thanks,

Dave

chrism01 · 11-11-2008, 07:37 PM

If you can login as root, you can change it with

passwd <username>

ie if you supply a username to the passwd cmd, it'll change the passwd for that user

drpeck · 11-12-2008, 04:57 AM

What I actually ran was:
usermod -p clearTextPwd root

or something like that. Now I can't log in as root, so I guess I'm bummed?!

billymayday · 11-12-2008, 05:33 AM

Try http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ssword-635672/

drpeck · 11-13-2008, 04:39 AM

Thanks guys.

I've been able to resolve this as it seems Linpus (Fedora based) is not very secure. I wrote:

Code:

sudo su

which got me logged in as root, without any password!!!!

and then

Code:

passwd root

Huzzah!

chrism01 · 11-13-2008, 08:10 PM

That's a setting in sudo. You can set it to not ask for a passwd (not recommended).
As far as root goes, I ALWAYS change the passwd manually using the passwd cmd. Its only one acct and it has to work.(!)