Re: Lost password

[Bob Nielsen <nielsen@xxxxxx>]

On Oct 24, 2006, at 8:37 PM, Doug wrote:

> Lost the system password for RH Enterprise 3. User password works
> just fine but I can't change any files. Is there a way to install
> a new password? I have tried Red Hats "single user mode", but it
> went to a kernel panic each time.

I haven't used RH for about 10 years, but the easiest way to handle  
that sort of problem (assuming you don't have the ability for a  
normal user to run root commands with sudo) is to boot with a CD- 
based distro (such as Knoppix), mount the / directory of the hard  
drive and edit /etc/password or /etc/shadow (if that  exists) to  
delete the second field of the root line.  Change

root:something:something_else  to
root::something_else

This will allow root to login without a password.

Of course, after rebooting to your RH system and logging in as root  
you should immediately assign a new password with the passwd  
command.  In addition to using Knoppix or similar, some installation  
CDs will allow you to mount / and edit the file in the same way (only  
a limited set of editors may be available, but vi or similar should  
be there).

Bob, N7XY





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