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Old 08-05-2006, 05:35 PM   #1
grim2k5
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Unhappy bypass username/password


My friend recenlty purchased a computer with SuSE Linux from someone for $50 but he dosnt know the user name and password. Is there any way to bypass this without a disk?
 
Old 08-05-2006, 05:40 PM   #2
spooon
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what disk?

* boot into single-user mode (add "single" to the kernel arguments in the bootloader) and run "passwd" to change root password

* or boot a LiveCD or something and erase the hash for root in the shadow file

see http://linuxgazette.net/107/tomar.html
 
Old 08-05-2006, 05:45 PM   #3
gilead
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The short answer is no (EDIT: I'm assuming Suse doesn't allow single-user mode without a password). A system isn't very good if you can easily bypass it's security measures. You should be able to boot the system with a live CD and modify /etc/shadow to remove the root password.

Last edited by gilead; 08-05-2006 at 05:46 PM.
 
Old 08-05-2006, 06:01 PM   #4
spooon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gilead
A system isn't very good if you can easily bypass it's security measures.
"Security measures" are never meant to protect against physical access.
 
Old 08-05-2006, 06:22 PM   #5
gilead
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spooon
"Security measures" are never meant to protect against physical access.
I was referring to his request to bypass entering a username/password. And security measures are meant to protect against physical access - but different ones are needed, like the lock on my server room door...
 
Old 08-05-2006, 07:12 PM   #6
masonm
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Perhaps he should just ask the person he bought the machine from?

I am never comfortable with questions like this because I've had machines stolen.
 
Old 08-06-2006, 04:25 PM   #7
pixellany
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grim2k5
My friend recenlty purchased a computer with SuSE Linux from someone for $50 but he dosnt know the user name and password. Is there any way to bypass this without a disk?
Without knowing what version of SUSE, you r best bet might be to simply install a modern version of Linux.

Does it have a CD Drive? If not, go buy one and install it.

You can boot from any "live CD" Linux distro--often available on magazine covers.

Find the file /etc/passwd and edit the "root" entry to remove the "x". The root entry will wind up like this:
root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

When you re-boot, you will be able to log in as root with no password
 
Old 08-06-2006, 06:14 PM   #8
sabit
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1. Download DSL (Damn Small Linux) or knoppix
2. boot using DSL
3. Mount the root file system to a directory
4. chroot /mount/point
5. passwd root
6. sync
7. logout
8. reboot
 
  


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