How to recover lost Root password in Suse Enterprise 9.0

manya · 02-04-2006, 03:49 AM

Hi Guyz,

can any one help me in recovering lost Root passwrord in Suse Enterprise 9.0, since i am very well aware of Red Hat and init method. but can any one guide me how to do the same on Suse Linux

Thanks in advance
Manya

gilead · 02-04-2006, 04:34 AM

Have you tried booting in single user mode and just using the passwd command? If that doesn't work, you can boot with your Suse CD and edit /etc/shadow for the root user's entry - remove the text between the first and second colons ( : ).

iNeo · 02-04-2006, 05:45 AM

Yup single user mode is the best method. Should work on most linux distros too.

rolsch · 02-05-2006, 06:56 AM

I have a vague memory that in some distros this method no longer works, and you have to supply your root password at all times (even if you specify a shell as your init-process in grub or lilo).

In that case boot your machine with a live distribution like Knoppix. Mount the root partition of your harddisk read-writable and blank out the second field of the root entry in /etc/passwd. Unmount and reboot. Now your root account has no password.