topic Re: forgot root password in Operating System - HP-UX

forgot root password

O'lnes — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:25:33 GMT

I forgot the root password, but when i change it , it pop up message.

# passwd /etc/passwd root

Password cannot be changed. Reason: Cannot access protected password entry.

I also tried to change it by SAM, but it deny to do that.

any method to change it without reboot the system? Thanks.

Re: forgot root password

harry d brown jr — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:33:19 GMT

vi /etc/passwd??

Is this a TRUSTED system?

ls -l /tcb

live free or die
harry

Re: forgot root password

Helen French — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:34:55 GMT

Is this a trusted system? what is the passwd aging policy? Try this command if you are logged in as root:
# passwd

Re: forgot root password

Uday_S_Ankolekar — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:38:40 GMT

If system is trusted, then try following method

try unconvert change the password and converting the system to trusted.

SAM -> Auditing and Security -> System Security Policies -> Password Aging policies -> password aging

Select "disabled" and select OK

The above is required when you convert system untrusted, this will expire all the passwords of the users. hence it is very important so that it will not expire the passwords and your users will not see any difference.

1. /usr/lbin/tsconvert -r

change the root password

and then convert the system back as trusted.
2. Run /usr/lbin/tsconvert -c

Also take a backup of /etc/passwd file before doing anything

Re: forgot root password

Martin Johnson — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:45:19 GMT

I would recommend creating a pseudo root account (UID=0) as a backup account to deal with problems like this.

HTH
Marty

Re: forgot root password

harry d brown jr — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:46:59 GMT

Or vi /tcb/files/auth/r/root

live free or die
harry

Re: forgot root password

Rajasekhar Raman — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:47:41 GMT

If its a trusted system then you can go into /tcb/files/auth/r, vi the root file and clear the password field, and then reset the password from command line using the "passwd" command.

If it is not trusted, then make a copy of /etc/passwd, edit the password field for root, (set to no password). Then try setting it from command line

Either way do not log out of you root session, that is your only hope if you do not want to reboot your system!!

-Shekar

Re: forgot root password

Allan Pincus — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 13:22:48 GMT

If you forgot root password, I don't see how you can change it.

The "backdoor" is to go to single user mode, which logs you in as root, then you should be able to do the simple password command.

To do this:

reboot
Enter BOOT ADMIN mode by tapping the esc key.

At the prompt type:

boot pri isl
Interact with ISL -> y

At the ISL>

Type hpux -is

This will boot you to single user mode, then you can change the root password.

Hope this helped.

- Allan

Re: forgot root password

doug hosking — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 13:36:05 GMT

Ummm... Before getting into fancier solutions, let's try a simple sanity check. This looks like a simple syntax error!

# passwd
or
# passwd root
makes sense, but I've never seen the syntax
you show. Did you accurately describe
what you really typed?