Authentication Token Manipulation Error
 

Hi all,

Well, I have a Mandriva box I let run for a few months that I haven't touched for a while; I can't login as root and when I try to reset the password for root (or any other account) I get a "Authentication Token Manipulation Error" while in single user mode from GRUB.

Any suggestions on figuring this out? Much obliged for the help and TYIA for the replies.

If you are getting a message from GRUB then Linux isn't running. I don't recall if it is possible to set a password in GRUB. If it is possible then I believe that nobody does it, just as nobody sets a boot password in the motherboard.

Take a closer look at what is actually happening. If Linux is running then you should not be seeing any messages from GRUB. If Linux is running and you can't log on to the root account then you may have to power cycle the machine and boot a live Linux CD, mount the system root partition, chroot into that directory, and reset the root user account.

Ah, so there is no way to reset the root passwd from single user mode?

Sorry if I'm not getting the terminology right. I was following the first step of this guide:

http://www.linuxforums.org/security/..._password.html

Though the latter suggests what you have outlined. I'll try it, thanks.