lost password Please HELP

From: Jesse E. Morris (JEM2b@attbi.com)
Date: 10/26/02 

From: "Jesse E. Morris" <JEM2b@attbi.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 15:13:54 GMT

I have lost password on system and can't access. Deceased son's
computer.
I have found several articles, but my problem in trying suggested
solutions is that on boot up, everything scrolls by so fast that I can't
enter the "single" user input at the LiLo prompt. Seems like I need
something like the old DOS 'pause' command. Anyone that can help will
be greatly appreciated.
Have no Linux boot disc. Do I need on? Where do I get one?

Seems to be among the best that I have found:

> During the booting of LILO if one of the keys: Ctrl, Shift, Alt or
Enter
are
> pressed LILO switches to interactive mode.
> The Tab key will show all the available boot configurations.
> Common boot parameters to pass to LILO when booting
> root=device
> ro and rw, mount the root file system explicity read-only or
read/write
> debug, all kernel messages are output to the system console
> single, tells the init program that Linux is to be started in single
user
> mode
> ether=IRQ,port,mem_start,mem_end,name; sets the base address, IRQ and
the
> mapped memory area of a network device named name.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 Does the computer boot up with LiLo? The way to tell this is when it
boots
> up it should pause for a couple of seconds and at the top right of the

> screen it should say "Loading LiLo" (LiLo stands for Linux Loader). At

that
> pause hit the Tab key. This will bring up a prompt. Type in "single"
without
> the quotes and hit enter. This should boot it into single user mode.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For the record you can buy my book for less than thirty dollars (U.S.)
and the first thing I cover in the "Emergencies" appendix is how to
recover from a lost root password. This is also one of the most common
FAQs on the comp.unix.admin newsgroup.
For Linux all you have to do is:
1. Reboot
(try [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Delete])
2. During the LILO prompt type:
(kernel/image name) init=/bin/sh rw
... note that's usually going to be just:
linux init=/bin/sh rw
3. This should start the Linux kernel,
with the root filesystem mounted in read/write mode. The cool thing is
that none of your normal init processes (like the gettys that ask for
your name and call the login program) will be started.
4. (Maybe) mount your /usr filesystem with a command like:
mount /usr
5. Change your root password with a command like:
passwd
6. Flush the cache buffers:
sync; sync; sync
7. (Maybe) unmount /usr:
umount /usr
8. Remount the root fs in readonly mode:
mount -o remount,ro /
9. Let init clean up and reboot the system:
exec /sbin/init 6
... there is a "6" (six) at the end of that command.
That's it. Don't worry about the couple of lines where I said '(Maybe)'
--- you can follow those steps too, if you don't understand. The errors
from unnecessarily executing those steps are harmless.
You can follow a similar procedure using a "rescue" diskette. However,
I'll let you buy my book (or visit http://www.toms.net/rb) for the
details on that approach. That book is "Linux System Administration" by
M Carling, Stephen Degler, and me (New Riders Publishing).
[ You can read a bit more about the book at the website that's been
setup for it:
http://www.linuxsa.com/

It's a bit plain as yet, but don't worry, it will get nicer as time goes

on. -- Heather ]

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