Howto: Reset Lost Root Password

Title: HowTo: Reset lost root password
Description: Steps for resetting the root password for your system when you've forgotten it.

http://wiki.suselinuxsupport.de/wikka.php?...ostrootpassword

Post any comments / questions / etc. in here.

i followed the directions, and in the end where i have to log in as a regular user and then "su", it asks for the root password, it keeps erroring out and says no matter what i type, the root password is wrong. am i doing something wrong?

can you post root entries from passwd and shadow file?

passwd file
root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

shadow file
root::::

i think the problem is when i reboot the computer, do i reboot into the rescue mode again? or do i go boot off the hard drive into the regular user mode? ive tried both, no dice. i use the "reboot" command at the rescue prompt.

o.k.
To edit these files you have to have root privileges. So in the rescue mode you have been logged as a root. After you have edited these files your root account does have empty password. You can't enter anything because you will get login error.
Anyway:

log in as a user
in terminal window enter
su
when asked for password press "enter" only
now you are logged as root. In the same terminal window (as a root) enter
passwd
enter a new password and confirm it

I hope that it will work

1. Boot the affected system to the GRUB loader
2. Select your operating system and type E for edit
3. Select kernel and type E for edit
4. Select boot and add runlevel 1 to the end of the line
5. Press Enter and hit B for boot
6. At the sh prompt, use passwd to change the password
7. Reboot the PC

1. Boot the machine to the LILO prompt
2. Type linux 1 or linux single to enter single user mode
3. At the prompt, use passwd to change the password
4. Reboot

simple. huh?

no, it will as for old password. You have to delete old password first, so it will not ask for it.

but when i reboot, do i "Boot from Hard Disk"?

It does not matter.
If you are in the rescue mode (booted from CD) and /etc is mounted. Then after you removed old password run
#passwd root
enter a new password for root
you can check it by editing (not changing anything) passwd and shadow files.

or

1. boot from HD and login as a normal user. I understand that you know user password but root is lost? If you forgot both, you can change user password too, this would be easier.
2. after you have booted from hard drive and logged as a user open terminal window and enter
#su
when asked for password simply press enter. No passwords here!
3. Now as a root in the same terminal window enter:
#passwd
enter and confirm password

you guys are gona kill me for this, but i have been typing "administrator" as the user name instead of "root", no wonder my password wouldnt work. cant blame me, im new to linux so it was a case of forgotten username, not forgot password. anywaz, i still cant change the root password because after doing all that, when i type "su" and hit enter, and enter again when it asks for password, it still asks me for the password, dont know why. does this have to do anything with SLES9?