[SOLVED] Accidentally removed /etc/pam.d // How to reinstall packages in my arch from a live usb?

luther1017 · 11-23-2018, 06:47 PM

First of all sorry for my English

I have Antergos installed on my Notebook and I accidentally deleted the folder /etc/pam.d so i cannot use any root command neither access to my user session.
I thought about reinstalling the packages which have files installed in pam.d so i tried:

pacman -S $(pacman -Ql | grep /etc/pam.d/$ | awk '{print $1}')

into a live usb of Antergos. I did it after mounting the partitions /, /home and uefi in /mnt, /mnt/home and /mnt/boot/efi respectively. Then I did:

sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/
sudo cp /etc/hosts mnt/etc/

sudo mount --bind /dev/ /mnt/dev

sudo chroot /mnt

mount -t proc none /proc
mount -t sysfs none /sys
mount -t devpts none /dev/pts

And finally tried this options but all of them return the same error:

pacman -S $(pacman -Ql | grep /etc/pam.d/$ | awk '{print $1}')

pacman -Syu

pacman -Syyu

pacman -S libpam-runtime libpam-modules

error that returns:

error: failed retrieving file *** from mirror.*** : Could not resolve host: mirror.***
in the *** go the names of the corresponding files and mirrors

Can you help me recover the /pam.d folder in some way? Am I doing something wrong when I mount the partitions?

PS: I have connection to Internet and I also have a copy of the folder pam.d in /home/user/Downloads (I did the copy before remove it from /etc/)

ondoho · 11-24-2018, 04:07 AM

switch off that system right now and don't use it until you fixed this.

you said that all you deleted was /etc/pam.d - so why are you copying, moving and/or touching other files?

boot the machine "from the outside" with e.g. a live usb, then copy the files you have in /home/user/Downloads back to /etc/pam.d.
make sure the directory was empty.
you will likely need to adjust permissions.

this is what it looks like on my (vanilla arch) system:

Code:

ls -al /etc/pam.d
total 140K
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4.0K Nov 21 21:46 ./
drwxr-xr-x 93 root root  12K Nov 22 08:29 ../
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 chage
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Nov  7 14:57 chfn
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  103 Jul 28 16:18 chgpasswd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  174 Jul 28 16:18 chpasswd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Nov  7 14:57 chsh
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 groupadd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 groupdel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  103 Jul 28 16:18 groupmems
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 groupmod
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  171 Nov 16 00:05 i3lock
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  220 Nov  7 14:57 login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  174 Jul 28 16:18 newusers
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  127 Oct  6  2017 other
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  198 Jul 28 16:18 passwd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  155 Aug 24 01:10 polkit-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  500 Nov  6 16:12 rlogin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  425 Nov  6 16:12 rsh
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 shadow
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  232 Oct 19 09:39 sshd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  366 Nov  7 14:57 su
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  366 Nov  7 14:57 su-l
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   97 Nov 15 20:30 sudo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  441 Oct  6  2017 system-auth
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  143 Oct  6  2017 system-local-login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  675 Oct  6  2017 system-login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  143 Oct  6  2017 system-remote-login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  260 Oct  6  2017 system-services
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  131 Nov 14 14:28 systemd-user
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 useradd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 userdel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 usermod

let's hope the files you have allow you to get your system working again.

lesson learned:

don't be root when you don't need to, and esp. do not use a graphical filemanager as root
make routine system backups

luther1017 · 11-24-2018, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

switch off that system right now and don't use it until you fixed this.

you said that all you deleted was /etc/pam.d - so why are you copying, moving and/or touching other files?

boot the machine "from the outside" with e.g. a live usb, then copy the files you have in /home/user/Downloads back to /etc/pam.d.
make sure the directory was empty.
you will likely need to adjust permissions.

this is what it looks like on my (vanilla arch) system:

Code:

ls -al /etc/pam.d
total 140K
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4.0K Nov 21 21:46 ./
drwxr-xr-x 93 root root  12K Nov 22 08:29 ../
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 chage
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Nov  7 14:57 chfn
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  103 Jul 28 16:18 chgpasswd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  174 Jul 28 16:18 chpasswd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Nov  7 14:57 chsh
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 groupadd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 groupdel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  103 Jul 28 16:18 groupmems
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 groupmod
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  171 Nov 16 00:05 i3lock
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  220 Nov  7 14:57 login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  174 Jul 28 16:18 newusers
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  127 Oct  6  2017 other
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  198 Jul 28 16:18 passwd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  155 Aug 24 01:10 polkit-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  500 Nov  6 16:12 rlogin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  425 Nov  6 16:12 rsh
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 shadow
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  232 Oct 19 09:39 sshd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  366 Nov  7 14:57 su
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  366 Nov  7 14:57 su-l
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   97 Nov 15 20:30 sudo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  441 Oct  6  2017 system-auth
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  143 Oct  6  2017 system-local-login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  675 Oct  6  2017 system-login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  143 Oct  6  2017 system-remote-login
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  260 Oct  6  2017 system-services
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  131 Nov 14 14:28 systemd-user
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 useradd
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 userdel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  160 Jul 28 16:18 usermod

let's hope the files you have allow you to get your system working again.

lesson learned:

don't be root when you don't need to, and esp. do not use a graphical filemanager as root
make routine system backups

Thank you! It works now