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08-16-2003, 01:06 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 9.1
Posts: 59
Rep:
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Problems with Root Password
Hello all, I'm a newbie to RedHat 9.0 and like it very much!
However, I have a problem:
When I go to do anything admistrative (i.e. hardware browser, up2date), of course it asks me for my root password, but when I enter it the screen simply comes right back at me and asks for the password again. It will keep coming back, until finally I hit "cancel", when it says "unknown exit code"(?)
I am sure the root password I have is correct, I even reinstalled the system to make sure. I have tried tabbing to the OK button, clicking it with a mouse.... nothing.
Has anyone had this problem or knows some way I can override the root password? Thx in advance
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08-16-2003, 01:21 PM
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#2
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
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Check - Caps lock and num lock?
What happens when you open a terminal as a user and type:
su -
Then enter you root password? Does it log you in?
Can you login as root from a console (Ctrl Alt F1) then (Ctrl Alt F7) to get back to the gui?
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08-16-2003, 01:30 PM
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#3
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Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 9.1
Posts: 59
Original Poster
Rep:
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Hmmm I checked caps/number lock, and when I tried through the terminal su - (my password) is says "su - user (my password) does not exist".
Going to the console didn't work either  .
I don't know, everything else works fine but obviously I need access to administrative privileges.... is there any other way you can suggest?
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08-16-2003, 01:37 PM
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#4
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
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No - you type:
su -
PRESS RETURN
Then enter your password.
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08-16-2003, 01:44 PM
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#5
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Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 9.1
Posts: 59
Original Poster
Rep:
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Well, I typed su -, then RETURN, and it prompts me for a password, but then I can't type anything, it just locks up. I hit return, it just goes to the next line....
sorry, I probably should've gone to Linux newbies for this question, but it is quite perplexing...
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08-16-2003, 01:54 PM
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#6
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
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When you say it goes to a new line - does it change from:
[username@somehost username]$
to:
[root@somehost root]$
You shouldn't see anything when you type the password. If you type the wrong one it should say:
[username@somehost username]$ su -
Password:
su: incorrect password
[username@somehost username]$
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08-16-2003, 01:57 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: pikes peak
Distribution: Slackware, LFS
Posts: 2,577
Rep:
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You may need to put JTR to work.........JTR is a UNIX password cracker.
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08-16-2003, 01:58 PM
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#8
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Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 9.1
Posts: 59
Original Poster
Rep:
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I get it to go:
[username@somehost username]$ su -
Password:
But at the prompt after Password, it just freezes, the only key that does anything is Enter, and that just puts it at the beginning of the next line....
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08-16-2003, 02:00 PM
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#9
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
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What does the next line look like?
Can you copy and paste the ACTUAL output
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08-16-2003, 02:01 PM
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#10
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally posted by 320mb
You may need to put JTR to work.........JTR is a UNIX password cracker.
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Why? If he gets really stuck he can just reset the password.
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08-16-2003, 02:04 PM
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#11
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Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 9.1
Posts: 59
Original Poster
Rep:
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[john@a3h33829y42al john]$ su -
Password:
That is exactly how is looks. When it prompts for Password:, the cursor doesn't respond to my keystrokes, it just sits there. This is really weird.... it's like it's defective or something  .
How do I reset the password? That might do it....
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08-16-2003, 02:11 PM
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#12
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
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1) Reboot your computer.
2) When the grub bootloader appears on the screen select the entry for your linux system - it may be the only one.
3) Press the "e" key to edit the entry.
4) Select the line beggining with "kernel".
5) Press the "e" key again
6) Type " single" no quotes
7) Press enter
8) Press "b" to boot
9) When the prompt appears type "passwd" press enter
10) Enter a new password when prompted
11) Reboot by typing "shutdown -r now"
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08-16-2003, 02:28 PM
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#13
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Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 9.1
Posts: 59
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks alot!!! I'll give it a try 
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08-16-2003, 02:50 PM
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#14
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Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 9.1
Posts: 59
Original Poster
Rep:
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OK David, I tried to follow your instructions.
I selected "e" on the linux system (strangely, there are two, different versions? I picked the higher version, I also have XP on the drive).
Selected the line starting with "kernel".
Pressed "e".
this line came up:
grub edit>kernel /boot /umlinuz-2.4.20-19.9 ro root=label=/ hdc=ide-scsi
I typed "single" (no quotes) immediately after scsi, it just went to the previous screen (still highlighting the line starting with "kernel"), when I pressed "b" it booted the comp! No choice for new password
I am frustrated. Could it be because of my hard drive config? I have the Linux Swap partition first (1024 mb, I have 512 ram), the XP (NTFS) partition next, then the Linux Partition (ext3), then a FAT32 partition to share files between the OS's. Isn't it strange that I get two linux choices when I sign in the grub loader? I am going to reboot right now and note what the choices are exactly and repost.
Thanks for all your help so far David 
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08-16-2003, 02:54 PM
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#15
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
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did you include the space or did you type:
ide-scsisingle
it should be:
ide-scsi single
note the space before "single"
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