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Home > Archive > Linux/Unix > February 2002 > help with shadow password!
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help with shadow password!
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| rlrouns 2002-02-19, 7:14 pm |
| Lets hypothetically say for a second that someone went in and was trying to learn more about linux, and passwords and what not, and for some reason went into /etc/shadow, and deleted the encrypted part of the root password, and just placed an asterisk there, and rebooted.... Now I am not saying that I actually did this, but maybe I know someone who did.... OK, so now that the situation is out in the open, before I go and whack the linux partition and reinstall, is there a way to fix that? I am booting to the CD and getting into Linux Repair mode, and I can VI the file with no problem, but it does not let me edit the file... Is there any way to get around this? (if someone actually happened to be stupid enough to do this....) Is there a way to repair that file, and boot back into the system normally? Oh, maybe that person just installed Red Hat 7.2 and did not create any other user accounts either.... thanks for any help that you might be able to give in this situation, should someone have been dumb enough to do that.... thanks!
Rob | |
| ccieToBe 2002-02-19, 8:34 pm |
| I'm not sure what the root password becomes if you do this. Are you able to login as root? If you can just use the "passwd" command to change root's password. If not, boot to single user mode and use the same command. | |
| rlrouns 2002-02-19, 10:18 pm |
| when I type passwd at the command prompt, I get an error, I forget what, I am not at work... this happens when the machine boots, and is loading linux, then gets an error in the / filesystem... I will try the single user mode first thing in the morning... I can get to Linux repair, and see all my directories and what not, but not able to change the password and modify users.... thanks for the help!
Rob | |
| Randy le Jeune 2002-02-20, 6:55 am |
| Use a boot floppy, then go into single user mode and reset the passwd. if that doesn;t work, just delete the passwd field from the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files and login with no passwd (but change it as soon as you log in). |
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