I have just started using fedora 12 on my system. Yesterday i forgot my username password and so as per the instructions given on the internet i opened the kernel in single mode and somehow tried to change my password by typing something like /etc/passwd. then i rebooted the computer and from then onwards the booting stops at the fedora prompt.
i opened again the kernel in single mode and there a message
"MAKEDEV : no such user : root"
appears.
Is there any way i can solve this problem without having to reinstall fedora?

The reason for the error ; maybe is You are trying to log on as 'root' which is NOT permitted on most linux distro now, previously you could do that but it's Not encourage.

have you done something like this: http://www.go2linux.org/fedora-cento...sword-recovery
try following the steps again but at the prompt try adding a user.

command:

adduser user
passwd password


reboot

then try logging as the "user" you created and "password" you gave above. tell us what happened and closed or modify this thread title, add the word "solved" if you could successfully log on to your system now.


hth,
mcleod

i did use passwd command where it asked for a new password but then it said "could not find the info on user hoot"(instead of root the computer is now addressing by hoot)

There r other users existing on the computer but somehow the root is missing.
I tried the command
adduser root
It said something like
"adduser: group root exists - if u want to add this user to the group use -g". I tried using this cmd but dont know how to.

I guess i somehow deleted or misplaced the user root when i was trying to change the password and now since it cannot find the root the booting stops at the fedora prompt.

So any suggestions?

And maybe u can boot with other user instead of root.Is it possible? If yes, how?

Booting into runlevel 1 shouldn't be a problem. Your problem might be that the password is not stored in /etc/passwd but in /etc/shadow. Note: back up /etc/shadow before editing it!

The entry in /etc/shadow on my desktop looks something like this:
(I replaced the actual encrypted password with "this_field_contains_the_encrypted_password" for illustrative purposes). I believe you can wipe out the password field, save the file, then reset the password using the passwd command - just press the enter key if prompted for the current password.

If this doesn't work, you didn't get this advice from me

I noticed he typed /etc/passwd at the prompt when he did the single user mode the first time. Of course, nothing should happen because /etc/passwd is not an executable file.

He needed to type passwd. The passwd command automates the update of both /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. If he tried to change his password by editing these two files without using the passwd command, this could cause problems.

@ pags123

Just curios, do you have hoot in both of these files?

If yes, it should be root not hoot.

Also, if you can remember, what did you do last before this happen. For example, any upgrades to packages, system libraries or security updates.

let us know...

Did you re-edit the grub line you modify to erase the number 1 you put in your boot menu?

also please read 2x and try it, this guy explains it well and have visual example.

http://www.hentzenwerke.com/wp/reset...otpassword.pdf

or read this well enough before doing this:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=16089

or try this instead:

http://www.labtestproject.com/using_...d_on_fedora_10

The above sites is NOT owned, manage or have any connections to me whatsoever. I have used Fedora Core 1 along time ago so changing root maybe different in a way. I'm too lazy to install FC 12 and try there solutions for you but i think it is technically sound.

tell us what happens.