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dmitchell
Veteran
Joined: 17 May 2003
Posts: 1159
Location: Austin, Texas
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 Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:07 am Post subject: Suddenly forgot root password |
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So I have used the same root password for years and have relied on my fingers to "remember" it. That is to say that I cannot recite the password at will but have always been able to type it. Until today. Today I awoke unable to type the password. What the fuck?
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Sadako
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Joined: 05 Aug 2004
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Location: sleeping in the bathtub
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:15 am Post subject: |
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edit: okay, to be helpful, either boot a livecd and chroot in, or boot to single user mode (just append "single" to the kernel boot parameters in your boot loader), and then passwd to something you can actually remember.
I wouldn't even wish this on a libertarian.
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richk449
Guru
Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Posts: 345
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:33 am Post subject: |
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| Your body knows what to do, you just need to relax. Drink a beer, and try again. If that doesn't work, repeat the previous procedure, until it does (or you pass out). |
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bunder
Bodhisattva
Joined: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 5941
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:32 am Post subject: |
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Moved from Off the Wall to Networking & Security.
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banned from #gentoo since sept 2017 |
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yabbadabbadont
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Joined: 14 Mar 2003
Posts: 4791
Location: 2 exits past crazy
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| Can't you just read it off of the sticky note on the side of your monitor? |
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padoor
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Joined: 30 Dec 2005
Posts: 4185
Location: india
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:38 am Post subject: |
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leave it today
tomorrow it will come back to your fingers
there has to be a file in /etc which remembers it 
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Sadako
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Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 3792
Location: sleeping in the bathtub
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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| padoor wrote: | | there has to be a file in /etc which remembers it |
Well, not directly, but johntheripper may actually be able to decrypt the password hash in /etc/shadow if you really want to recover the password.
Of course, that's assuming you haven't changed it already...
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Clad in Sky
l33t
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 895
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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You can delete it from the shadow file and then make a new one.
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yabbadabbadont
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Joined: 14 Mar 2003
Posts: 4791
Location: 2 exits past crazy
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Clad in Sky wrote: | | You can delete it from the shadow file and then make a new one. |
Not without being root... He would have to chroot into the system, or otherwise mount his root partition while booted on other media. In which case, he might as well follow Hopeless' first suggestion. Chroot into the system and run passwd to change it. |
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pappy_mcfae
Watchman
Joined: 27 Dec 2007
Posts: 5999
Location: Pomona, California.
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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I'm with the chorus telling you to be mellow, smoke a fatty, and let your muscle memory, and your fingers do the walking. Unless you absolutely need back in, that is. 
Blessed be!
Pappy
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F_
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 31 Dec 2006
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 10:25 pm Post subject: |
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Consider this a blessing in disguise.
The real problem here is that you've used the same root password for years. |
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padoor
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Joined: 30 Dec 2005
Posts: 4185
Location: india
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| Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 3:29 am Post subject: |
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most people would be using the same passwd for root and user if your machine is used by you only.
i keep the same.
capslock on?
fingers usually dont forget but some hesitations can come up like forgetting the spelling if daily used words.
some times even names of our close friends off hand we may not be able to write
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