Used Sun box, password problem, etc.

RuralTurtle · 10-04-2006, 06:24 PM

Hi. A couple of weeks ago I bought a used Sun Ultra 5 on Ebay that has Solaris 10. The seller said it was reset and that there should be no password to enter.

Well, I received it and sure enough I need a password. I went back and forth with him for two weeks now and can't get any further. Truly an annoying situation.

I'm thinking my only recourse is to re-install Solaris. Is this true? I don't care about losing any data, but want to get this up and running soon.

The system didn't come w/ a CD. Is there another option? Will the free version of Solaris offered on Sun's site work? I've found some articles on Google about recovering a lost password; is this an option?

Forgive me, I'm newer w/ Solaris. I know my way around Windows and Linux to some extent, but this is kind of a new environment. Thanks for your help.

Brian1 · 10-04-2006, 06:37 PM

Using the search here I see one for solaris 9. Not sure how different but may help.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=132516

Brian

pljvaldez · 10-04-2006, 06:41 PM

I would be tempted to try reseting the root password with a linux liveCD.

Boot the liveCD, mount the solaris partition. Then chroot /mnt/solaris which should give you root access to the Solaris partition. Then edit the /mnt/solaris/etc/shadow file and delete the second entry (in red below) on the root line so it looks like

Code:

root:XXX:1234:123:123:::

Then save and exit the file and reboot into solaris.

Theoretically this should give you a blank root password since it's a unix-type OS. Otherwise, you need to get your hands on a solaris CD (probably doesn't have to be exactly the same version - maybe even an Opensolaris CD would work) so you can boot into single user mode.

jlliagre · 10-05-2006, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pljvaldez

I would be tempted to try reseting the root password with a linux liveCD.

Why not a Solaris LiveCD ?
Linux UFS write support is "experimental", so there is a risk of FS corruption.

Quote:

Boot the liveCD, mount the solaris partition. Then chroot /mnt/solaris which should give you root access to the Solaris partition. Then edit the /mnt/solaris/etc/shadow file and delete the second entry (in red below) on the root line so it looks like

Code:

root:XXX:1234:123:123:::

Then save and exit the file and reboot into solaris.

Theoretically this should give you a blank root password since it's a unix-type OS.

Practically too. This is the documented way of resetting a lost root password.

Quote:

Otherwise, you need to get your hands on a solaris CD (probably doesn't have to be exactly the same version - maybe even an Opensolaris CD would work) so you can boot into single user mode.

Yes, all of the Solaris installation CDs allow to run a shell session.
There is currently only one OpenSolaris based distribution available for SPARC H/W: martux (http://www.martux.org/)

pljvaldez · 10-05-2006, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

Why not a Solaris LiveCD ?

An even better idea. Sorry, I didn't realize this was in the Solaris forum or I would have left it alone. I didn't even think to look if such a thing as a Solaris LiveCD existed. I've never used Solaris myself, I was just assuming it could be written to from linux...

RuralTurtle · 10-05-2006, 02:13 PM

Thanks guys. I was able to download a free copy of Solaris/SPARC & boot via CD, etc. I'm back in business. Thanks for the kind follow ups.