Firstly, I am a complete newbie to Linux, but I have spent two days searching the web and trying to resolve this before posting this. I have bought a HP Mini netbook preinstalled with SUSE unaware that it has obviously been used in the shop. Someone has set up a user and I do not know the root password. I have tried resetting it using PASSWD and also logging in a single user, but both these prompt for root password. I have tried reinstalling SUSE using a usb stick without success (managed to get the files on the stick and make the stick bootable, but the installations just hang). I know I could try returning the netbook, but that will mean 100 mile round trip. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Have a friend with an external DVD drive you could use? Have a PXE
server somewhere with Linux on it? Try, at the boot screen, typing
‘init=/bin/bash’ and that should drop you to a shell without any
password at all. Once there you can modify /etc/shadow clearing out the
‘root’ user’s password, and possibly another user’s as well.
Good luck.
dannyhaines wrote:
> Firstly, I am a complete newbie to Linux, but I have spent two days
> searching the web and trying to resolve this before posting this. I
> have bought a HP Mini netbook preinstalled with SUSE unaware that it
> has obviously been used in the shop. Someone has set up a user and I do
> not know the root password. I have tried resetting it using PASSWD and
> also logging in a single user, but both these prompt for root password.
> I have tried reinstalling SUSE using a usb stick without success
> (managed to get the files on the stick and make the stick bootable, but
> the installations just hang). I know I could try returning the netbook,
> but that will mean 100 mile round trip. Any help would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
>
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Thanks for the quick response.
Do I need to edit the kernel line and add the init=/bin/bash at the end of that line and press b to boot? Sorry I am an OSX man, this is my first attempt with linux.
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When you get to the options to boot or use failsafe or whatever just
immediately type init=/bin/bash (should show up at the bottom of the
screen) and hit [Enter].
Good luck.
dannyhaines wrote:
> Thanks for the quick response.
>
> Do I need to edit the kernel line and add the init=/bin/bash at the end
> of that line and press b to boot? Sorry I am an OSX man, this is my
> first attempt with linux.
>
>
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Sorted at last. Thank you.
> Firstly, I am a complete newbie to Linux, but I have spent two days
> searching the web and trying to resolve this before posting this. I
> have bought a HP Mini netbook preinstalled with SUSE
you have purchased a machine with SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop
version 10 (aka: SLED 10) which is the commercial version of Linux
SOLD by Novell…it is related to openSUSE, but because it is a
commercial product you have certain support and help available via
the forums which support the commercial product…i suggest you
quickly go over to
and, seek assistance there as it is the correct place for your
software questions…
and, i guess the machine probably comes pre-installed WITH a user,
and root…but, i do not know…ask HP…
–
primary
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
i forgot to mention that while the help you get here might possibly
be useful, it might also void your support agreement with Novell…
AND, by all means resist all suggestions from her to (for example)
‘upgrade’ to openSUSE 11.1; or add any openSUSE repositories to your
YaST…
–
primary
this might be a silly suggestion and you might have done it already… but have you tried giving a call and/or emailing the shop where you bought the notebook? After all you paid for it and they HAVE TO sell a product that works fully. They are likely to have a standard root password (maybe the name of the shop or something like that) that they use for every machine
I got in like this:
sudo passwd root
enter new password twice…
Guam Haole