Root logon denied at console.

[Adam W.]

Ok I have a Red Hat 3.0 box, and root has been disabled to logon from the console. The IP addresses have not been set for it's new location, so I cannot remote in. There are no other accounts on the box at the moment. How can I get into this server?

[Gokul Chandola]

Dear Adam,

Reboot the Linux machine by pressing the hardware reset button. In a default Linux installation, pressing CTL+ALT+DEL

Upon Linux booting up to GRUB loader GUI, move the arrow key up/down to highlight and select the Linux kernel and press e to edit the GRUB commands before booting.

Next, move the arrow key up/down to select the Linux kernel and press e again.

Append a single space followed by the word single at the end of edited line: - single

After pressing ENTER key, you should now have a similar GRUB screenshot as of follow. Keep the Linux kernel highlighted and press b to boot up with the â singleâ keyword, which will boot Linux into single user maintenance mode.

Once the Linux boot up completely into single user maintenance mode, the Linux command prompt is ready to execute command. Now, you can type passwd to reset the forgotten root password - without prompting for old root password, just type a new root password and re-type to confirm.

Done. Type reboot or exit to reboot. On next boot up, you can login with the new root password!

You Can follow the atteched file also.

Regards,
Gokul Chandola

[Adam W.]

gokul,
Will doing the above, change the root console logon setting. The problem isn't that I don't know the password. I know the password. but root logon is disabled form the console.

Can I change the I.P. adress in single user mode?

[Court Campbell]

go into single user mode and check that console is in the file /etc/securetty.

[Adam W.]

Court,

Thanks for the info I will write mroe when I have the outcome.

[skt_skt]

Can I change the I.P. adress in single user mode?

yes you can. BUT STILL U NEED TO LOGIN FIRST.

[Adam W.]

Court,
I was able to get into the box using your process. Basically I went in single user mode reset the IP and subnet and was able to remote in. Weird thing is that "console" is in the /etc/securetty file, but I still cannot log into the console as root. Any other conflicting files that would not allow root to login from the console?

[Ivan Ferreira]

Maybe the /etc/security/access.conf file.

[Court Campbell]

Can you login as root via any other method? And can anyone else login to the console?

[Adam W.]

everyone can log on remotely via tectia client. However NO ONE can logon to the console.

[Adam W.]

Ivan,
What entry would I be looking for in the File you mentioned?

[Court Campbell]

in access.conf you would look anything that has a combo of -, root, and either LOCAL or console.

[Court Campbell]

Sorry, I just re-read your original message. I wanted to see if you could login as root via ssh or something else. I thought maybe the root account was locked.

[Court Campbell]

One other thought. Try tailing /var/log/messages and /var/log/secure and see if you get any messages that might tell you what is going on.

[Adam W.]

Court,
This is the error in /var/log/messages

Sep 22 08:38:48 alexandria gdm[4379]: Root login disallowed on display ':0'Sep 22 08:40:04 alexandria gdm[4379]: Root login disallowed on display ':0'
Sep 22 08:45:34 alexandria gdm[4379]: Root login disallowed on display ':0'


All entries in the /etc/secrity/access.conf file have been changes to allow root logon. I did not reboot or anything though. Root still cannot log in from the console. Should I attach a copy of the securetty file and access.conf file? Maybe I am missing something.

[Ivan Ferreira]

I think that in this case, the problem is your GDM configuration.

Edit the /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf file and set:

AllowRoot=true

I'm not sure if gdm.conf is on that path on RH 3.0, but the file name gdm.conf must exists somewhere in /etc.

find /etc -name gdm.conf

[Court Campbell · Accepted solution]

I am not sure if this is a pam config issue. or something else. But you cannot login to gnome. You could always just hit something like alt+f2 and login.

[Court Campbell]

Check your gdm.conf and see if AllowRoot=0, if not change it. Then try logging in.

[Adam W.]

Court/Ivan,
THanks I will give that a shot and reply with the outcome.

[Adam W.]

Court/Ivan,

There was a gdm directory in /etc so I went in and there was a custom.conf file I modified the frile from Allowroot=false to Allowroot=true. And I still cannot log in as root from the console. Sorry to keep bugging your guys, but I can't figure this out.

[Ivan Ferreira]

You should have a command like:

gdm-restart

To reload the configuration file.

[Adam W.]

Court/Ivan,
That did the trick!!! Thanks to you both! I am an HP-UX admin and have never really worked with Linux. I never would have thought to look at the gdm! Thanks again you guys are life savers!!!!!!!