Problem with 1st time boot of RH8
 

Hello Everyone,
I finally got the RH8 installed on the other half of my hd , but i didnt get the boot loader configuration put in right and I have to boot from the floppy boot disc I made at the end of the installation. Anyway my problem now is that when booting in for the 1st time after install it asks for username and password when I put that in , it says it's incorrect...ACK!!!!!! I have been hassling with this thing for a week, and finally got it installed and now this, Anyone heard of this problem or how to fix it , I would really appreciate it , Thanks a bunch for all the help

just throwing out some ideas. did you create a user during install or are you trying to log in as root? remember linux is case sensitive. did you use any upper case characters in passwords? is the caps lock key on?

More ideas...
 

You will be able to simply log in as root. If you didn't set the password while installing RH8 it is set automatically, I can't remember exactly what it's set to, I think 'password' or just enter or something to that effect. If I remember right though, Red Hat has documentation on their website about what the default password for root is set to. I know it is enter at default for adding a user without specifying a password. Anyhow, when you log in, be sure to add a user other than root. You should use this user and not root for everyday computer usage, for root has too many privlages, you can easily screw up your system if you don't know exactly what your doing.

Ok, I just read a bit about what to do if you forgot your password. In this case, the password was not set to the default, you simply entered a password during install and forgot what it was...

If you are using the LILO boot loader...
when the system comes to the LILO prompt 'LILO:' (This is the prompt when your computer first starts up and asks you what OS to boot into.)
Type:

linux single

Then...
When the computer gets to the '# prompt' enter the password changing
command:

passwd root

You then reboot:

shutdown -r now

and login as root (then as I suggested add a user)
This command will help when you are able to login as root again, you can
add a user using the 'useradd' (For example 'useradd user')command and set the password for the user
using the passwd command... 'passwd user'

If you are using GRUB the process is not as simple (typical for GRUB).
I have never done this, but here is what redhat.com suggests...

from: http://kbase.redhat.com/freefaq/TCAT_31_3.shtm
"GRUB: Users who has installed GRUB, the root password can be changed by booting in single user mode and editing the command line (assuming that the line is not password protected). An alternate approach would be is to have a rescue disk to boot from and then edit /etc/passwd file. Remove the text between the first 2 colons.You can then boot up with root=/dev/hdan where n depends on your root partition."

... Red Hat tech support people need to improve their grammar skills ...

Take a look at the Red Hat support database, they do a pretty good job of
documenting most problems that can arise from virgin linux users to
nasty bar-slut users. Hope this helps. ;)

Thanks I will take a look , the problem is I choose no boot loader because I had SuSE on the first part of my hard drive, and I think I goofed up because shouldnt I have went into advanced option in installing the boot loader to choose to add Redhat to the Grub that was already there? In any case I have to use the resque disc to start Redhat and I havent even gotten in yet after install.I am sooo lost.If last resort would reinstalling Redhat help and I am sure I put in the right username and password I created in installation. Thanks again for the help

hmm...
 

So you are able to boot into both SuSE and Red Hat, however you cannot login to your Red Hat install... am I understanding this? Or are you having problems with your boot loader? I believe that when you installed Red Hat that it would automatically create a Grub configuration file to accomodate the existing linux install. At least that was an option when I installed RH8 (using the graphical partition software 'Disk Druid'), however I haven't installed it in a while. If you did not specify that you had an existing install of Linux I believe that the Red Hat installation program will automatically install a new copy of Grub on the MBR. So I think that your old Grub files are probably gone now. But that shouldn't matter, because if the installation went well, the RH installer should have created a Grub file which will allow you to boot SuSE or RH. But once again... is that one of your problems? If you can chose to boot into SuSE or RH through Grub, your Grub is functioning properly, the boot loader will not have anything to do with the operation of your Linux installs, or very little. I doubt that a boot loader issue would be the problem with your lack of being able to log in to RH.
Ohh, I just read what you put about using the rescue disk to start Red Hat, so you
are not able to login to RH without a rescue disk eh... Well that probably means that
your Grub configuration is screwed up. To fix that is an interesting bit of knowledge
to obtain, Grub is somewhat complex, but satisfying to learn about.
You should take a look at your grub.conf file which should be located on your boot
partition. (I can't remember for sure, I'm using LILO on this system.) Anyhow I'll bet that when you installed RH it overwrote your MBR (master boot record... where the
boot loader lives) with it's own rendition of what it thought your system looks like.
In the grub configuration file you setup where your boot partitions are and the location of your kernels on the boot partitions. For example you have two kernels
probably that you would like to be able to seperately use, therefore you would tell
GRUB in the configuration file something to this effect...

example grub.conf
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.bz
title=SuSE
root=(hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0) ... path to kernel ...

title=Red Hat
root=(hd0,4)
kernel (hd0,3) ... path to kernel ...

where (hd0,0) corresponds to the first partion on the first hard disk, and (hd0,3) corresponds to the 4th partition on the first hard disk (the numbering system begins
at 0, meaning that the first in the series is always # 0)
Anyhousels, the grub config file should display something simular, so that you can boot into 2 seperate distros of Linux.
I really don't believe that you'll have to reinstall everything, I think that it will take
some time and effort to get it working correctly, but that's what Linux is all about.
Check out your grub configuration file and post it, maybe I can read through it and see a solution. As for the password issue, I would do as you said and read through the redhat.com documentation to find a solution. I've never done it before but I don't
think it'll be too difficult.
Excuse the formatting of my reply:rolleyes:

Thanks so much for the reply, the problem with Grub is when asked to make a choice during the install of RH i told it not to do anything at all considering the boot loader. So I dont think that there is any reference to it in the SuSE grub file, I will look but I am pretty sure that the choice I made was no loader config at all with RH, I now realize I should have made a different choice there. As far as the user name and password issue I can not find anything relating to that specific problem of not taking the same name I set up. I am seriously thinking at this point that it might be to my benefit since I barely installed the RH and I have no personal data stored in there yet, That maybe I should reinstall and then that way I can pay closer attention to the boot loader configuration and also make sure that I am aware of the different choices in username and password options that I make...lol Then I can start on the real challenge of using and learning RH8, I am so new at this and it really has been something else trying to learn the new systems. But I just know I am going to be very glad that I am learning Linux, Thanks a bunch all of you great people, Have a Great Day!