It gives me the shivers!

The worst thing that could happen to a linux user is to forget the root password. The infallible method is to write it down. It’s simple but silly.

Is there a better way out?

Hell yes.

I will give you three ways to do it.

1. adding a “1″ to the kernel grub option
2. chroot into the drive
3. modifying /etc/passwd file

Adding a “1″ to the kernel grub option

Like this:

Linux boots and drops you inbto root prompt. Use “passwd” to change the password.
But this is found to work only on Fedora. Before dropping to root shell, debian(lenny) and ubuntu(hardy) asks for root password!

Update:

In fedora you can make it behave the same as Ubuntu or Debian by adding this line to “/etc/inittab“

# what to do in single user mode
~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin

Thanks to jenny for this update

Adding “single” at the grub option

Like this:

Linux boots and drops you inbto root prompt. Use “passwd” to change the password.
But this is found to work only on Fedora. Before dropping to root shell, debian(lenny) and ubuntu(hardy) asks for root password!

Chroot into the linux drive

For the less privileged, chrooting on the drive can be used for root password change. Here’s how to do it.

1. Find out the partition on which the OS is installed

HOWTO:
Launch a terminal and execute the command :
$ mount
In the output, find out where is “/” mounted
ex:
[pit@stop ~]$ mount
/dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)

2. Insert LiveCD of any linux distro and boot into its live session

3. mount the partition

$ mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6
note:

1. if /mnt/sda6 is not present, create the directory using “mkdir”

2. it is not necessary that the partition will be sda6. It would be sixth partition but it could become sdb6 or sdc6. It varies according to your situation.

4. “chroot” into the mount point

$ chroot /mnt/sda6
Now you are inside the filsystem of your linux.

5. Change the root password

$ passwd

You are done!

Modifying /etc/passwd file

This is dirtier than the previous one. Steps to follow: (following the assumptions made in the method above)

1. Insert Live CD of any linux distro and boot into its live session

2. mount the partition

$ mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6

3. Open up the file “etc/passwd”

$ vim /mnt/sda6etc/passwd
change this line

“root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash”

to

“root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash”

The second field indicates the presence of a password. So removing the ”x” tells the OS that the “root” user has no password.

4. Now boot the machine without the LiveCD and set your own password for root using “passwd” command.

Again you are done.

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