Root user can not logon from console

[FireDragon.Xu]

Hi,all.
The root user can not logon from console,but can logon from client by telnet.Following message appear when I logon at console:
No utmp entry. You must exec "login" from the lowest level "sh".

Thanks for any help.

[harry d brown jr]

Sounds like you have a messed up .profile or .kshrc/.cshrc

What did you recently change? /etc/passwd? .profiles?

live free or die
harry

[Armin Feller]

When trimming an /etc/utmp file that is corrupted -- it may not trim all the
way and still have a remnant of corruption.

The proper way to clear a corruption problem with /etc/utmp is to do the
following:

1. cp /etc/utmp /etc/utmp.040802
2. rm /etc/utmp
3. touch /etc/utmp

n4000: / # ll /etc/utmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1080 Apr 8 08:57 /etc/utmp
n4000: / # cd /etc
n4000: /etc # ll -d
dr-xr-xr-x 31 bin bin 7168 Apr 6 18:34 .

4. Use chown and/or chmod to make changes to persmissions or owners as needed.
5. init q

If that doesn't work, then:

1. cp /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.040802
2. cp /usr/newconfig/etc/inittab /etc/inittab
3. init q

If that doesn't work, then shutdown and reboot the system at your earliest
convenience.

[Armin Feller]

This may be caused by a /etc/utmp file that contains corrupted entries.
One approach is to fix the corrupted entries only (and keep the good part) using
/usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp , another approach is just to clean utmp (and lose
all entries).

For the latter one just login as root and recreate the file:

# /etc/utmp

[Steve Steel]

Hi

definately utmp

Also can

Copy the utmp file
# /usr/lib/acct/fwtmp < /etc/utmp > /tmp/utmp
Remake binary file
# /usr/lib/acct/fwtmp -ic < /tmp/utmp > /etc/utmp

steve Steel

[Shannon Petry]

Another cause of this error is installing certain drivers from spaceware inc, now 3dconnexions.

The daemon provided by the vendor seems to step on getty's toes. To resolve this,

ensure that the entry in /etc/inittab looks like this:
spbd:234:respawn:/etc/SpaceWare/spaceballd -d /dev/tty1p0 /dev/null 2>&1

Regards,
Shannon

[Venkataraman Bala]

Was the root password changed recently and does it contain the character @ somewhere in the password string?

On the console, when @ is encountered, the HPUX kernel ignores the previous entries, so you will not able to logon.

Change the root password without @ in the string.

-Venkat

[Changchun Teng]

You can enter "\" befor you enter "@" when you enter your password.

"\" will change the default meaning of "@" in HPUX.