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Old 04-02-2004, 11:36 AM   #1
hbenway
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Reset Root password


Does anyone know a method to reset a forgoten AIX root password
without rebooting the machine?
 
Old 04-02-2004, 01:25 PM   #2
fancypiper
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I'm not sure abour AIX, but the basic Linux root password is changed with the command (as root) passwd
 
Old 04-02-2004, 02:27 PM   #3
iainr
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Unless you have a security hole that lets you break in as root, there is no way without rebooting (makes sense - otherwise what would the point of having a root password be).

Security holes (which you should fix if you have them) might include a /.rhosts file giving someone remote access as root, a world-writeable root-owned SUID file or something like that.
 
Old 04-08-2004, 01:22 PM   #4
looseCannon
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If you've logged off the server then you are pretty well screwed. Unless you have promptless SSH set up, or maybe RSH.

The only other way I can think of is to reboot and go into a maintenance shell.
 
Old 04-22-2004, 02:28 PM   #5
zorba4
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Right, loose, rebooting in maintenance shell is the only way.
@fancy : bad luck, you need to be logged as root in order to use the standard unix "passwd root" command.
 
Old 04-22-2004, 02:34 PM   #6
d3funct
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If you have the ability to FTP as a user (admin, or some such) with read/write access to /etc/passwd on the box you could ftp to the box and get the /etc/passwd file, edit it removing the password for root (or the * if using shadowed passwords) and then ftp it back to the server. This will set the root password to NULL and you'll be able to get into the box.
 
Old 04-22-2004, 02:37 PM   #7
fancypiper
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Quote:
Originally posted by fancypiper
Linux root password is changed with the command (as root) passwd
Hm... I thought I mentioned that in the (as root) portion.
 
Old 04-22-2004, 04:53 PM   #8
looseCannon
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Quote:
Originally posted by zorba4
Right, loose, rebooting in maintenance shell is the only way.
@fancy : bad luck, you need to be logged as root in order to use the standard unix "passwd root" command.

You know, thinking about this for a couple more minutes there could be another way. Just a wild shot in the dark, but this might work If you have a user in passwd group you might be able to change root's password with that user. [I]Might[I/]. Never tried it so I'm guessing here.
 
Old 08-11-2008, 11:42 AM   #9
pedor
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can I reset the root password from SMS menu (without AIX CD-media)?
 
Old 08-19-2008, 04:13 PM   #10
Michael AM
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No, you cannot reset from the SMS menu. The filesystem need to be mounted first. Any bootable media at the correct OS level (and patches) will work. The most common is a recent (mksysb) backup as it will have the correct drivers.

Once you get into the startup menu's (having selected a tape or a DVD backup to boot from, AIX will prompt (unless backups are setup to restore handsfree) and ask if you want to restore the backup, or go into maintenance mode.

Choose maintenance mode, and IPL varyon rootvg, and start a shell.
With the filesystems mounted (you can choose to start a shell without mounting the filesystems) just use the passwd command to change the password.

use the command sync to force the changed password to disk.
use the command reboot to restart the system and let AIX boot normally from the harddisk.

As looseCannon suggested:
If you have a user setup with the role "ManageAllPasswds" that user will be able to use the command pwdadm to change the root password.

$ lsrole ManageAllPasswds
ManageAllPasswds authorizations=PasswdAdmin rolelist=ManageBasicPasswds groups= visibility=1 screens=* msgcat=
 
  


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