Getting root access

[Stacey Lyons]

I'm new at this sys admin stuff and I have a problem with root passwd. I remote logged into another workstation to change root passwd on that machine. When the prompt came up to enter new passwd again (verify), I paused to do something else and the connection closed. Now I can't get into it using the new or old password. What can I do??

[Sanjay_6 · Accepted solution]

Hi Stacey,

If you have lost the root access to any system, the only choice to access the root password again is to reboot the system in single user mode and reset the passowrd. If you were timed out without completing the new password command, your password should not have changed.

Hope this helps.

regds

[S.K. Chan]

You still should be able to get into the system with your old password. The password will not change until it was verified in the password changing process. If still cannot, you can always bootup the workstation in in single user mode to bypass the root password and then change it there.

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Stacey,

If you have .rhosts configured on the workstation for which you have lost the root password, you can try rlogin from a rcmd trusted hosts and reset the password.

say server1 is allowed rcmd access to server2 and you have lost the password on server2. do a rlogin from server1 to server2. the info for servers who are allowed rcmd access can be found in /.rhosts or /etc/hosts.equiv files.

If this doesn't work and you have still no root access, you have to reset the password by rebooting the system in single user mode only.

Hope this helps.

Regds