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You guys are great but one more thing

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  • You guys are great but one more thing

    I did as I was told the attack that worked was the alt ctrl f6 thing, now I am at the login in stage and root doesn’t work, it asks me for a password which I don’t know, I wasn’t the one that installed the Linux and I don’t have contact with the guy who did. One more bit of information I type in root in the login area, then when I get to the password area the cursor doesn’t move when I type, I am not sure what this all means, I am new to the Linux world and I was thinking of reinstalling but I am a little hesitant because I don’t want to ruin the computer and or lose drivers. I was wondering if you guys thought reinstalling was a good idea or if you think it may be to difficult for me. Thanks for all your help either way

  • #2
    ummm if you have a shaddow password file, re-install eaiser way. even if you don't have a shaddow password file, its still probably easier to re-install.

    Either that or hunt him down and get da password
    Juu nin to iro


    English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

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    • #3
      Most of the time you can recover (or change, for that matter) the root password if you have phisical access to the console (which you do have).
      It's quite easy
      -d

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      • #4
        replacing the root password is ALWAYS possible if you have access to the computer.

        Simply:

        1) put in the linux CD and boot it
        2) boot up the recovery console.
        3) mount your linux system.
        4) open the /etc/passwd on the linux hard drive partition and find the line with root in it. remove the second field, eg

        root:x:0:0::/root:/bin/bash

        becomes

        root::0:0::/root:/bin/bash

        5) do the same for the /etc/shadow file on you linux system partition, eg.

        root:$1$fkdjafkldfsaklfsdaj:3123:0:::::

        becomes

        root::3123:0:::::

        7) reboot you system. You should now be able to log in as root with no password. run passwd to set a new password.
        80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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        • #5
          Easier way...

          Type "linux single" at the LILO prompt (or edit the grub command line). The system should boot up and give you a root prompt.

          HTH,
          Rahul
          Porsche: MSI K7N2-L, Athlon XP 2100+, G400 32MB DualHead, 1G RAM, 2xMaxtor 20 GB, Gentoo Linux
          Quicksilver: HP Omnibook 500, PIII 700 MHz, 512MB RAM, 30GB, RedHat Linux 9.

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          • #6
            Nope

            The LILO "Linux single" will still ask for the password once the system is started.

            (at least on slackware and debian systems, some others might not be quite as secure)
            80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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            • #7
              True that!

              You are right, but it works on RedHat and Mandrake by default (e.g. I leave it that way for convenience, coz if someone can actually type linux single on my computer, I am screwed anyway). I assumed he had one of those. The recovery CD (or for that matter any boot disk) should work for more secure systems.

              -Rahul
              Porsche: MSI K7N2-L, Athlon XP 2100+, G400 32MB DualHead, 1G RAM, 2xMaxtor 20 GB, Gentoo Linux
              Quicksilver: HP Omnibook 500, PIII 700 MHz, 512MB RAM, 30GB, RedHat Linux 9.

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              • #8
                Having the linux single password protected actually does come in handy.

                At work, we set up some linux boxes as OPAC (open access) library search computers. These are quite locked down, to the point where not even the root user can get a shell unless it is rebooted and run as "linux single".

                Without the password on linux single, getting into the box would be quite trivial.

                On most computers though, it doesn't really matter much.
                80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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                • #9
                  Gotta love "open access" Seriously, I would be locking down everything on those computers too. That's pretty cool that you guys use Linux. Do you limit users to web browsing, or is it pretty much a normal Linux workstation?

                  -Rahul
                  Porsche: MSI K7N2-L, Athlon XP 2100+, G400 32MB DualHead, 1G RAM, 2xMaxtor 20 GB, Gentoo Linux
                  Quicksilver: HP Omnibook 500, PIII 700 MHz, 512MB RAM, 30GB, RedHat Linux 9.

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                  • #10
                    At work (it is a private school in perth),

                    We use linux for most of the servers (I owe samba, squid and apache big time), and the those opac machines (these are fairly old, slow machines, that just have to run a web browser for the library search, and that is it) We use windows everywhere else unfortunately.

                    It is simply scary how much work our main linux server does though by itself, and even scarier is that it is only a Duron 700.
                    80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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                    • #11
                      Unfortunately, even the password-protected "linux single" doesn't help you at all. In fact, I'd sort of say it's misleading.

                      "linux single" will accomplish something very similar to running "linux init=/bin/sh".

                      That, there's no way to password protect, except from the bootloader, or the bios, or a physical lock on the comptuer, or....
                      Tilable Desktop Backgrounds, perfect for DualHead: http://bg.rifetech.com/

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                      • #12
                        Ah

                        I'll have to try that

                        Thanks *kicking myself in the background for not knowing that one!*
                        80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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