Hi,
I’ve just returned to a 11.0 machine that’s been turned off for over 3-months. Now, after powering-up, the admin password doesn’t work. Can anyone please tell me the least complicated way to fix this?
Thanks in advance for your replies!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
There is not a user named ‘admin’ or ‘Admin’ by default… are you
trying root? If so check the ‘root password’ thread from 2009-01-07 in
this same forum.
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I’ve just returned to a 11.0 machine that’s been turned off for over
> 3-months. Now, after powering-up, the admin password doesn’t work. Can
> anyone please tell me the least complicated way to fix this?
>
> Thanks in advance for your replies!
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFJbKZV3s42bA80+9kRAjIcAJ45NHGH4IIP1odTaV5Fg27yljPmWwCgguxy
cCKxY6V1VsKdoYnFjetd8TQ=
=gvt2
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Yes, it is the root password that I need to fix. I assumed ‘admin’ and ‘root’ are synonymous in conversation, since the login dialog usually asks to “enter the Administrator (root) password.”
In any case, I am only able to find this ‘root password’ thread from 08-Jan-2009. Probably not the one to which you are referring.
If you know the location of a different one, then please post. Thanks!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Well, ‘admin’ could easily be another user (Novell’s eDirectory, for
example, has an ‘admin’ user that can be used in SUSE Linux and that is
NOT a powerful user by default… so always use the username if
possible (case-sensitive).
Anyway that was the thread to which I was referring though if you can’t
get in as the user you’ll need to try something else… like booting
and pressing ‘S’ while you’re at the Grub menu and then continuing the
boot process. This should let you login and change the password of the
‘root’ user as I recall. If that doesn’t work one of the million hits
from Googling for:
change root password linux
should get you where you need to be.
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> Yes, it is the root password that I need to fix. I assumed ‘admin’ and
> ‘root’ are synonymous in conversation, since the login dialog usually
> asks to “enter the Administrator (root) password.”
>
> In any case, I am only able to find ‘this’ (http://tinyurl.com/8vtqfr)
> ‘root password’ thread from 08-Jan-2009. Probably not the one to which
> you are referring.
>
> If you know the location of a different one, then please post. Thanks!
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFJbLiC3s42bA80+9kRAhW1AJ9+E1OPKdIRQ+GPj2KvUaYrqi2AgACfZ4tk
6WmAye7ZAfEmSGutZWtzHjw=
=WvyX
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Yeah, the problem is that I can’t log in as root, so most of those threads found by Google won’t help, in this case, since most assume that you already have the existing password. The only pertinent threads I’ve found so far seem extremely complicated, and I’m not even sure if they provide the correct solution!
I’ll try hitting ‘S’ when booting, but I assume that I’ll need the password to continue.
I read that /etc/shadow is where the root password is stored (if I understood correctly), but mine seems to be empty. Otherwise, I assume I could use Knoppix to change it. That would be the type of solution I’m looking for 
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
If your password is empty in /etc/shadow then you don’t have a password,
which is the way a lot of distros seem to be going. With an 11.0
install there is a checkbox (checked by default) that sets the ‘root’
password to the same password as your first user. This first user may
then be setup in /etc/sudoers so try running ‘sudo -i’ and see if you
can get in there after entering the password requested (probably your
user’s). If that works then you can set the ‘root’ password at that time.
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> Yeah, the problem is that I can’t log in as root, so most of those
> threads found by Google won’t help, in this case, since most assume that
> you already have the existing password. The only pertinent threads I’ve
> found so far seem extremely complicated, and I’m not even sure if they
> provide the correct solution!
>
> I’ll try hitting ‘S’ when booting, but I assume that I’ll need the
> password to continue.
>
> I read that /etc/shadow is where the root password is stored, but mine
> seems to be empty. Otherwise, I assume I could use Knoppix to change it.
> That would be the type of solution I’m looking for
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFJbMpi3s42bA80+9kRArvcAJ0YTqENnTNr3KXJjGT3VxgOqotxVQCfRRSn
rsMUfLflcZ++RuC6EuaJwZI=
=ENpV
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
I set up the installation with separate passwords: one for root and one for the user. They both worked fine before I disconnected power to the machine 3-months ago. Now, I can only log into the user account.
Since /etc/shadow is empty, then I assume that a virus or trojan (or something else) wiped it out. Or maybe it is simply a program flaw in openSuSE or a failure in the ext3 file system?–I’ve had problems with ext3 before; it doesn’t seem to store certain types of values correctly.
But how to get the password reset if it is encrypted?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Your /etc/shadow file is completely empty?? That would be really bad
for sure. Anyway you should still be able to reset the password as long
as you can boot the system (‘S’ is single-user mode) or when you use a
Knoppix disk.
root:$2a$10$KyFV9mMV01VkbDi2MISCPO.C6DMWaHLFXN98VYcM0rnQ.ukzz0udm:14257:0:99999:7:::
The hash above could be used in your shadow file for password ‘novell’
in case that helps.
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> I set up the installation with separate passwords: one for root and one
> for the user. They both worked fine before I disconnected power to the
> machine 3-months ago. Now, I can only log into the user account.
>
> Since /etc/shadow is empty, then I assume that a virus or trojan (or
> something else) wiped it out. Or maybe it is simply a program flaw in
> openSuSE or a failure in the ext3 file system?–I’ve had problems with
> ext3 before; it doesn’t seem to store certain types of values correctly.
>
> But how to get the password reset if it is encrypted?
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFJbNPk3s42bA80+9kRAu58AJ9mwZauyi67T8rzJEAVA7OcwXojAwCeJCTt
XBLpVB5Zn4/WfAwX6a34eXI=
=+MHR
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Ok, everything is mounted with Knoppix, but I can’t open the /etc/shadow file. It reports that I don’t have access rights. The properties are:
user: root
group: shadow
Hmmmmmmm :\
Oh wait. I should have written that I can’t save the file once editted; it is in fact readable in Kwrite, just not saveable. The dialog doesn’t allow changing the read/write properties and it never asks for a password.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Try running ‘su’ to become root? ‘kdesu kwrite’ to do it in the GUI.
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> Oh wait. I should have written that I can’t save the file once editted;
> it is in fact readable in Kwrite, just not saveable. The dialog doesn’t
> allow changing the read/write properties and it never asks for a
> password.
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFJbQLw3s42bA80+9kRAuDDAJ4/B+sqj05yBEnX06Kis89UOinA8QCdFpth
SsA+V7c5v9LNThyAWjxu20c=
=O5M1
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Alright, su worked. I was able to open /etc/shadow in kwrite (launched from root prompt). But first, I tried doing this:
root@2[knoppix]# chmod 777 /media/sda2/etc/shadow
However, it reported that the document is only readable. Predictably, I wasn’t able to save shadow using Kwrite.
One interesting thing, though, is that this time shadow contains a bunch of information. The password for root appears to be there, albeit in encrypted form.
Since I can’t seem to change the contents of shadow, is there a way to decrypt this value?
Thanks!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
No. Linux uses one-way hashes. You could try Rainbow Tables, but this
probably won’t be trivial for you. Maybe the partition is mounted
read-only… that could cause issues regardless of permissions. Try
verifying that, or post the output of the mount command.
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> Alright, su worked. I was able to open /etc/shadow in kwrite (launched
> from root prompt). But first, I tried doing this:
>
> root@2[knoppix]# chmod 777 /media/sda2/etc/shadow
>
> However, it reported that the document is only readable. Predictably, I
> wasn’t able to save shadow using Kwrite.
>
> One interesting thing, though, is that this time shadow contains a
> bunch of information. The password for root appears to be there, albeit
> in encrypted form.
>
> Since I can’t seem to change the contents of shadow, is there a way to
> decrypt this value?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFJbRzE3s42bA80+9kRAmebAJsEQF5YvV8s7E4krbnU2ZPAFAi9hwCfcbv1
xC2s5ZOOKS9o8pGTwwsmtBo=
=brTr
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Seems like the partition is ok…
/dev/md0 on / type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
Well, I tried doing it this way from the Rescue Console…
mount -o remount,rw /dev/md0 /mnt
# cd /mnt
# chroot /mnt
# passwd
which mounts the (/)root directory, but I get a ‘command not found’ error because the /usr/bin/passwd command is located on a different partition: /dev/md1.
Is there a way to make this work?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Tried mounting in the other filesystems before running chroot? Copy in
the passwd command from Knoppix to /mnt before running chroot?
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> Well, I tried doing it ‘this’
> (http://en.opensuse.org/Recover_Root_Password) way from the Rescue
> Console…
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> mount -o remount,rw /dev/md0 /mnt
> # cd /mnt
> # chroot /mnt
> # passwd
> --------------------
>
>
> which mounts the (/)root directory, but I get a ‘command not found’
> error because the /usr/bin/passwd command is located on a different
> partition: /dev/md1.
>
> Is there a way to make this work?
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD4DBQFJb0H23s42bA80+9kRAoVbAJdttpInmRtLM4VHdNyZ/sIke2CNAKCKNJFe
GX1hpY0vRsFpWBdXcmYJ8A==
=domw
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
I mounted both file systems, /(root) and /usr, on /mnt/first and /mnt/second, respectively. Despite that, it didn’t seem to find the passwd command.
I also tried copying passwd to /bin, but it says it can’t find libldap-2.4.so.2. I found ldappasswd and copied it to /bin, but it didn’t resolve the issue. Hmmmmmmmm
I should probably mention that, no matter which method I use, it reports:
error while loading shared library: libldap-2.4.so.2: cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory.
Weird, eh?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Not if you put it in /bin… try /lib or /usr/lib or else update your
LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to wherever these can be found.
Good luck.
Slipstream00 wrote:
> Weird, eh?
>
>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFJcKlK3s42bA80+9kRAinaAJ43saF9fgXQfUQf6QfTBMp3BM+NWgCgiW2O
3HGT0qCOmstF9zCimiAoMNs=
=UoaA
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----