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any ways to recover superuser password ?

 
dominic_10
Occasional Contributor

any ways to recover superuser password ?

need advice on ways to recover or overwrite the superuser password without re-installing OS and formatting hard-disk

lost the superuser password.

thanks...
12 REPLIES 12
MarkSyder
Honored Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Boot in single user mode. You will then be allowed to reset the password.

Thee are password cracking tools on the internet, but in my experience they take three days to run (depending on the system) and still don't crack every password.

Mark Syder (like the drink but spelt different)
The triumph of evil requires only that good men do nothing
Joseph Loo
Honored Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

hi,

there is no way to recover password, u have to reset it.

if u r on HP-UX, u have to boot to single user mode and reset it.

regards.
what you do not see does not mean you should not believe
Devender Khatana
Honored Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Hi,

Is there some current session logged with root or equivalent user?

If yes from there you can reset the password of root. Otherwise you need to boot to single user mode. By doing so you will be able to loginto console from root without being asked for password. Change password here and reboot to normal boot level.

To go to single user mode.

Halt at ISL prompt. (Press anykey within 10sec when message comes on console)
ISL>bo pri
Interact with IPL> Y
IPL>hpux -is

It will bring you to # prompt on console where you can change root password.

HTH,
Devender
Impossible itself mentions "I m possible"
Zigor Buruaga
Esteemed Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Hi,

Do you have any other server allowed to do rlogin as root to this one?
If not, you will need to reboot your server in single user mode, and then change the root passwd.

Regards,
Zigor
Mark Nieuwboer
Esteemed Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Hi dominic,

You can't recover the password but if you have openview manager. Start opc and logon as opc_admin. after this start sam for the node.

grtz. Mark
Arunvijai_4
Honored Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Boot in single user mode from ISL> and reset root's password.

L> hpux -is

INIT: Overriding default level with level 's'

INIT: SINGLE USER MODE

INIT: Running /sbin/sh
#
#
# fsck

# mount /usr

# mount /var

# passwd
Changing password for root
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Passwd successfully changed

# init 3
"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for"
Muthukumar_5
Honored Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

If you have any logged sessions with root user then use passwd command to change it.

Else as usual,

1) Boot machine with single user mode
2) change passwd and reboot with normal mode

With out the root passwd you can not do remote transfer /etc/passwd file too.

hth.
Easy to suggest when don't know about the problem!
Gavin Clarke
Trusted Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

This post could help, I think you might need to be logged in as root to do it though:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=773616

Otherwise boot to single user mode or find another server that you can rlogin/remsh from, as the others have said.

There is certainly no need to re-install the OS.
Gavin Clarke
Trusted Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Scratch that bit about needing to be in as root, the post I linked to gives instructions on how to boot into single user mode and reset root password, see SEP's answer.

I thought that there was a way of doing it on the forums without booting to single user mode, perhaps I'm wrong.
Raj D.
Honored Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Hi Dominic ,

You can reset the root password through rebooting the system and interupting the boot process at PDC then invoke ISL,

ISL> hpux -is

# passwd root
Changing password for root
New password:******
Confirm Password: ******

# shutdown -r -y 0

Cheers,
Raj.

" If u think u can , If u think u cannot , - You are always Right . "
dominic_10
Occasional Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Many Thanks to all for the advice ...
Managed to reset the password.
Raj D.
Honored Contributor

Re: any ways to recover superuser password ?

Hi Dominic,

Here is your forum profile :

"I have assigned points to 3 of 13 responses to my questions. "

Try to make it 13 of 13 , you will get good response...


Enjoy ,
Cheers,
Raj.

" If u think u can , If u think u cannot , - You are always Right . "