how to reset root password using omniback

[Scott Van Kalken]

A quick question.

how does one reset the root password on a machine using omniback?

I know it's possible, I just don't know how.

Any suggestions?

I know I can simply drop to singlue user and do it that way, but I want to figure out a way of doing it using omniback because it's less hassle than waiting around and dropping to single user mode.

[Volker Borowski · Accepted solution]

Hi Scott,

well I never tried this, but it should work:

Pre-Exec-Script
- set DISPLAY to your PC
- execute "xterm &"! If it does not work, additional environment may be needed.
- wait for shell to pop up
- use "passwd" in xterm-window
- if session is killed too early, additional "sleep" may be needed in preexec-script.

Let me know
Volker

[David Rodman]

You can do a:
passwd -d root
However, I must say that deleting passwords and/or setting them through scripts is a *bad* idea.
btw I can't do this on my system cause root is not allowed to have a null password.

Perhaps you should look at NIS and yppasswd?