Follow arthur1968's instructions. I don't use Windows and don't know how to do it. You really need to read the instructions on all of this.

DO YOU HAVE Nero installed? What cd-burning program do you have? Go to google.com and put in the little fill-field:

name-of-your-burning-software burn bootable cd

That should help.

Or, follow arthur1968's instructions. Did we mention that?

Thanks...

Well...

Did it work?

This is almost going to feel like a new baby

yes....it work...Now I have 3 CD of debian....and already installed it...but now I am facing problem to log on...I forgot the root password....At the time of installation I ceate a boot disk...will It work for me to retrieve my root password....Please help...I have bootable CD also...Just tell me how can I retrieve my root password....without installing debian again...

at the boot prompt type

linux init=/bin/sh

This will give you a shell. you may have to mount /proc and / and /sbin to get the passwd command to work.

Or boot with the 1st CD and type rescbf24 at the install prompt.

No. The boot disk will not "rescue" your root password. You'll have to mount the partition and manually edit /etc/passwd

Actually my root passwd..is correct..but whenever I sart debian it automatically goes to xwindows..then ask me for user and passwd...when I am giving the right passwd..it gives me following error...

"The System Administrator is not allowed to login from this screen"

and another thing is that it is asking me for netwotk environment to choose....I already created two new environment but failed to log on....

How can I go to text mode only..automatically....at startup...

I also try with linux init=/bin/sh and a get a command prompt...

But what I will do then...I men I cannot edit the file /etc/passwd....even I cannot view the file also with less comand...

Please suggest me what can I do now...

Thanks again for help...

NO. if you have the root password do not pass the init=/bin/sh option. I don't believe you are quite ready for that yet.

So X starts up, you get a graphical login manager (GDM, KDM, XDM).

Rule #1. Don't log on to X as root.

Rule #2. If you have forgotten the user named "romel"'s password, switch tty's while the login manager is on screen with ctrl-alt-F1. Login to the console as root.

type:

passwd romel

and change romel's password. Then do ctrl-alt-F7 to get back to the login manager. By default the login manager and X runs there. To get to text mode at bootup, one edits the file /etc/inittab and

# /etc/inittab: init(8) configuration.
# $Id: inittab,v 1.91 2002/01/25 13:35:21 miquels Exp $

# The default runlevel.
id:2:initdefault:

And makes sure that the number 2 is just like mine. HOWEVER, unlike Redhat that uses runlevel 5 for a GUI startup, Debian uses 2, and the login manager handles this. I just remove the login manager with apt-get remove gdm (or kdm, xdm).

I suggest you leave the login manager running, and just use ctrl-alt-F1 to toggle over to a console and perform any work you must. I also recommend you install the package sudo

apt-get install sudo

Then read the man pages for sudoers:

man sudoers

Just to reiterate: if you KNOW the root password, don't go mucking in /etc/shadow or /etc/passwd. You'll screw the system up.

Create a new user or change the user's password, and login to the X environment in this fashion.

I have only 1 account.....that is root...don't have created any other account at the installation time...

Please suggest what can I do now...

oh..sorry..thanks again...I am at console mode with my root account...Thank you so much.....

You need to properly follow the installation guides. The installer prompted you to add a user and you chose not to? I don't want to offer any more assistance if you're going to run as root all of the time. Adding a user is very easy. One thing I suggest is you start using Google for these questions.

How to add a user in Linux?

adduser romel

Good luck. I'm outta this thread.

Yes Sir...I have added two normal user account from my console mode and use chfn command also to edit their profile....

Thank you once again...as you suggest...I will toggle to console mode everytime I start...later I will learn how to remove the login manager with apt-get remove gdm (or kdm, xdm).........

Now I just want to set up my networking again....I mean I want to edit my domain name...host name...IP address.....etc.....

Cause I just finish the installation ....and was hoping to do these jobs after installation....

And the most important thing that I want to configure the mail server with exim MTA.....

Please suggest....your valuable comments.....

Thanks again for your nice co-operation....

1.

Which login manager is running?

ps aux

And you'll see an entry for gdm, kdm, or xdm.

apt-get remove gdm
apt-get remove kdm
apt-get remove xdm

It's that simple. Done. No further configuration needed on your end.

2.

Once more, when you installed, the installer would have ALREADY prompted you for the hostname.

do this:

cat /etc/hostname

Edit the file /etc/hostname to be the hostname you want.

3. Does networking work at all? How are you connected to the Net? What is the purpose of this machine? A mail server?

What is the output of

ifconfig

Do you have the eth0 device? If not you'll have to add it to /etc/network/interfaces. Using DHCP to acquire an IP the file would look like:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

in addition to the loopback device. This too could have been setup during the install.

Is the network card driver loaded?

lsmod

can you run

dhclient eth0

???

4.
If eth0 is up and can ping out real world IP's. run:

eximconfig

Choose option #1 if you are running a mail server and will do your own SMTP.

Choose the username you want root's mail to go to.

Done.

start sending mail.

Please suggest how can I enable telnet at debian..so that I can log on from another PC..which is at my LAN...

Sorry. Use ssh. apt-get install ssh. If you need to login from a Windows machine, then Putty.exe is a nice client. Use that.

Do you understand the concept of APT yet? TO search for a package you do

apt-cache search packagename

so, apt-cache search telnet returns many packages. You are trying to install the telnetd server, so you can login FROM another machine.

Once more, install ssh, and during the configuration screen, tell it you want to run the sshd server. Then ssh into the machine.

I am trying to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file to change my IP address but only able to view....cannot make changes....at x windows I am able to logon using normal account only...please post me example... your /etc/network/interfaces default file....

Also suggest how can I edit this file..and save it....

whenever I am restarting my PC..it says

"Dedian GNU LInux..

choose your current network environment ! "...

Can i skip this message..also I want to keep only 1 environment.....there are 4 environment on my lists....how can I remove them....