/etc/passwd file was renamed & system is not accessible

[sharif naser_1]

Hello all,

unlucky guy renamed the /etc/passwd file while he was shifting users & forgot to bring it back
Now the system is not accessible he tried hpux -is but it gave him :
fix root entry in the passwd file & reboot .
he is not able to get system prompt
what should he do to resolve this matter ?
O.S hpux11
any help is highly appreciated .

TIA
S.N.

[Bill McNAMARA_1 · Accepted solution]

when the system boots up with
hpux -is you should get a prompt.

Then just rename the moved file back
to /etc/passwd

or

add a root user to it, you can add it with
normal password file syntax
Name:Password: UserID:PrincipleGroup:Gecos: HomeDirectory:Shell

passwd root
at the prompt

The passwd file is overlooked on hpux -is

[Shannon Petry]

Bill is right. From ISL >hpux -is will bring you to single user mode and /sbin/sh!

This does not require /etc/passwd, so should give you ample opportunity to move the passwd file back, or copy /usr/newconfig/etc/passwd to /etc/passwd.

Exceptions would be if you were running in trusted mode!

Regards,
Shannon

[Manuel Plaza]

Hi sharif,

If you can't boot with "hpux -is", you could try to boot from the Recovery CD, and from the recovery shell you can mount the root disk and modify the /etc/passwd.
If you use LVM, in manual "Support Media User's Manual" P/N: 92453-90081 say you how activate LVM.

Regards and good luck !

[sharif naser_1]

Hi all,
all of you are right , the problem was it keeps
on asking init 0 fix root entry in the /etc/passwd file i tried ctrl-c to get rid of it but i could not .
finally i switched the console off & on & then i get the prompt .
many thanks to all of you
Regards
S.N.

[John Bolene]

Also make sure that root is the top entry.
We had one security person who was cleaning up the password file and sorted it.
This was a version on our security server that gets rcp'd to all the rest of the 250 servers.
Needless to say, it took hours of time from several people to go thru and boot each server into single user mode and restore a good password file.
That security person is no longer with the company because he made a few more bonehead mistakes.

[Nancy Brzezinski]

Hi,

Do you have a make_recovery tape?

Nancy Brzezinski
Alterra Healthcare