Hello,

I been given a computer with RHEL on it. I've only been using linux for about 6 months and mostly Ubuntu. Before I format the computer I would like to see if I can give myself root privileges on this computer as a learning experience.

I've booted off of a Ubuntu Live CD and mounted the /dev/sda1. There is a grub and lost+found folder. Then there are init*.img, vmlinu-*.ELsmp files and a few files that look like config files.

I was able to use cpio to unzip the .img files which did create a /etc/ folder but that folder didn't contain the passwd or shadow files.

Therefore, I'm pretty sure I need to unzip the *.ELsmp files, edit the correct files and then somehow zip them back up.

Is this possible or am I wasting my time?

Thank you in advance!
-------------------

Turned out the file system was LVM and Ubuntu doesn't recognize that with default setup. I found a method for mounting LVM in Ubuntu at http://www.linux-sxs.org/storage/fedora2ubuntu.html

Yep, your wasting your time no passwords or shadow files are stored in the img files. As a suggestion read the manuals;

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

And learn the power of su, sudo, the sudoers file and the wheel group.