root password recovery

[Michael Fenn]

recently purchased a second hand HP server that i want to restore. i have got the system running but the root password i was given was incorrect is there a way of resetting or changing the password?.
the operating system is HP-UX dated around 1992

also can anyone tell me where i can locate an manual for a HP9000 series 835 unit

[Animesh Chakraborty]

Hi,
Boot it in single user mode then change password.


Regards
Animesh

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Michael,

To reset the root password try this,

Boot the system, it will ask you to press esc/any key to interrupt thr boot process. Press esc/some other key to interrupt the boot process. At the prompr type "bo pri" to boot using the primary path. It will ask you whether you want to interact with IPL. Select "Y". Once done, the system should boot and you should get the ipl prompt IPL>.

Type "hpux -is" at the prompt.

IPL>hpux -is

This should boot the system in single user mode without asking you for the root password. You can now use the "passwd" command to change the password.

Hope this helps.

Regds

[Varghese Mathew]

Hi Michael,

The answers to change a root passwor are already given in the previous answers.. But if you want to unblock the userid "root" as it gets blocked if you mistype repeatedly as set in the machine you can use the below command
#/usr/lbin/modprpw -k root

Hope it helps..
cheers !!!
Mathew

[Michael Tully]

Hi,

You need to boot into single user mode as suggested by Sanjay. You will not be able to use the 'modprpw' program as this wasn't available until 1996 with the introduction of HPUX 10.x

You can the passwd with either the passwd porgram or editing the password file using 'vipw'.

Hope this clarifies things.
-Michael

[Ravi_8]

Hi,
No way to retrieve the lost password, unless you know how to decode the /etc/passwd file.

To change the passwd get into single user mode
(#reboot
press any key in 10 secs.(press any key)
prompt> boot Px (x is the path no.)
interact with ISL(y/n) y
ISL> hpux -iS
#mount -a
# passwd root)
#init 3
now your root password will be the one you had given