Part 3 of the Linux Newbie Administrator Guide
3.2.3 I forgot the root password
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First method. The easiest way to solve your "forgotten root password" problem is to boot your Linux in the single-user mode, namely at the "lilo"prompt (during bootup) type: linux single This will make you "root" without asking for a password. Now, being root, you may change the root password using this command (no knowledge of the old password required): passwd If it strikes you as insecure, that's because no computer system is secure if other people have physical access to your hardware. Nevertheless, I did not like the "linux single" hole on my home computer and plugged it by adding the following lines to my /etc/lilo.conf file (at the end of the "image=" section): password="my_password" restricted [This "lilo" password is required when, at the LILO prompt during bootup, somebody enters the word "linux" with any parameter (normal bootup without any parameters will still be possible without a password).] For the changes to /etc/lilo.conf to take effect, I must re-run the command lilo . Since my lilo password is not encrypted, I must make /etc/lilo.conf readable only for root: chmod 600 /etc/lilo.conf Second Method. Another way to solve the "lost-root-password" problem is to boot your computer from the Linux boot diskette or the CD. Then find your Linux root partition on the hard drive, mount it, and edit the file /etc/shadow. (I can do it because after booting from the floppy, I become root without being asked for a password.) In the password file, I erase the encrypted password for root (for example, using the pico editor), so it is empty. Information about a user account is kept in plain-text files: /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.For example, my /etc/shadow entry for "root" account may look like this: root:$1$BuPbmLAz$1G7.evIChyqaEI0TlZp0F.:11071:0:99999:7:-1:-1:134540356 and after the password is erased, it looks like this: root::11071:0:99999:7:-1:-1:134540356 Now, the root account has no password, so I can reboot the computer and, at the login prompt, type "root" and for password just press ENTER (empty, no password). After a successful login, I immediately set the password for root using the command: passwd Apparently, despite deleting the password from /etc/shadow , the Debian distribution will not let you log in "passwordless" (enhanced security?). In such a case, what needs to be done is to replace the password in /etc/shadow with an encrypted password from another account, where you know the password. After that, you can login since you know the password.To make the "floppy access" to my system a little bit more difficult, I considered running a computer without a floppy drive :-) Unfortunately, Linux CDs are bootable these days. I set up my boot sequence (in the BIOS setup) so that the system boots from the hard drive before floppy and CDROM are tried, and added an "administrative" password on changes to the BIOS settings. Still, I worry that these BIOS passwords are very easily crackable, or that one could remove the small battery that sustains the BIOS setting. One could also remove my harddrive and connect it to another computer for reading :-) . I am thinking about installing an "encrypted file system" which is now available on Linux, but considering all the trouble associated with it, perhaps I will settle on locking my room :-) . If all this sounds paranoid to you, it probably is--it just illustrates the point there is little computer security, even under Linux, if the potential cracker has a physical access to your hardware. Next > 3.2.4 I forgot my user password
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