I have changed permissions to all files on the hard drive to 000. Stupid thing to do, but now I can't change it back, since I have restarted the computer and I can't login again as root or any other user.

I get a GDM error permissions should be set to 750. But How can I change them back if I can't login?

Thanks

single user mode?

at bootloader prompt type:

kernel_name single (if using lilo)

this will give you a prompt.

I am using grub on RH9.

I went into grub command prompt and run "find /boot/grub/grub.conf" and it got me file not found

I come to runlevel 5 and services start up just fine, it's just that I can't login anymore. The error I get is (I will retype it here:

Server authorization Directory (daemon/DervAuthDir) is set to /var/gdm but has the wrong permission. Permissions should be set to 0750. Please correct the permissions or configuration /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf and restart gdm.

I know what I should do, because it says so in the message. But I can't login as root or any other user as I get "Login Incorrect". That's because of changed permissions probably it can't read the login files.

Help!

Thanks!

Not sure about RH9, but try this.
On boot, hit 'e' at the splash screen(or wherever RH9 asks you to interfere with grub or select a kernel to boot).
edit the 'kernel*blahblah*' line, add an s(or 1) at the end, and boot.
check by typing 'runlevel', might return 'unknown' on that distro.

Thanks guys!

I typed 'a' at GRUB menu, and added single to kernel at boot, which got me into the system as single user and I changed the permissions back, so that everything works now. Except one thing. X doesn't work. Some bad permissions and some missing files. I understand the bad permissions, but where did the missing files go?

Is there a way I can reinstall X?

Does anyone know how to do that? I think it will be easier than finding all the bad permissions and missing files.

Hi,

I locked out root user login by creating a PAM sshd.deny file.
How can I get root access?

Here's what I did -

1. vi /etc/pam.d/ssh
added the line:
auth required pam_listfile.so item=user sense=deny file=/etc/ssh/sshd.deny onerr=succeed

2. created /etc/ssh/sshd.deny with a user acct to block on the first line
blocked_user

3. service sshd restart

Now I can log in with my personal account, but cannot login as root.
I can't su - either.

!!!!!!!

Thanks for any help
AJ

Boot the machine into single user mode and modify the PAM config file.