I just installed Slackware and for some reason my root password is not the one that I entered in. So how do I log on as root?

Are you using LILO or GRUB as your bootloader? I know that for GRUB, you can select the kernel that you want to boot, then press e for edit. At the end of your boot file, add 1, press b and that should boot you to init 1 as root with no password. This works on Red Hat, but I haven't tried it with Slackware yet. For the life of me, I can't think of how to accomplish this in LILO. Maybe someone can chime in on that.

The weird thing is it isn't actually stating that my password is incorrect it is saying that my login is incorrect when I login as /.

It stills mean that you have an incorrect password, since a root user is created by default. I'm trying to figure out how to boot as init 1 from the lilo screen.

I think the easiest way is to boot up using the Slackwa5e install disk. If you chose /dev/hda2 as your root filesystem on which tio install Slackware then run :

then run passwd to change the password to something youy remember.

If you can;t remember where your root filesystem is then fdisk -l will give you a list of partitions.

In LILO, at the boot selection screen hit TAB, then input the name of the OS you want and append an init 1 or whatever init you want. Once you're in as root, just type in passwd.

Another solution is to get a Live cd boot it up, then go into /etc/passwd and just remove the password. Or was it /etc/shadow, I don't remember, but I was surprised when it worked.

Doh, I forgot about using the cd! That should work.

This looks like a confusion about the root-directory (/) and the user named "root". When asked for the username, type "root" and press enter. When asked for a password, enter the one you gave.

There is confusion in the world for the double naming of "root" as in the directory (which is "/") and "root", it's a common mistake, so don't worry.

However, since you don't know the name of "root", I take your experience with Linux is limited. Don't take the name of root in vain, and only use that user when in dire need (e.g. to create a normal user ;-))

Edit: - Also: the error message about a bad login is the same as the message given for a wrong password provided. This is for a reason, so people cannot "guess" usernames and on a "found user" try to use all possible passwords (a password (dictionary) attack).

Thanks for the help. It turned out that I was typing in / instead of root