I have been playing around with linux for a little bit now, and I learn something new everyday. Today, I learned that the the command



is not a good command to use.

Suffice it to say, I did and now I can no longer log on as root or su. Does any have any suggestions to resolve this? PLEASE!! (I hope it doesn't sound like I am begging even though I am).

Thanks to any help any can offer.


Paul Gardner
linuxhelp.ca AT pgardner DOT net

what boot loader are you using?
if you are using lilo..try the following:

on booting up....
when lilo shows...there will be a key sequence
to press....i think its control+x..

press this key sequence and it will put
you into the old lilo screen.

should look like this

lilo:

at that prompt type the following:

linux single

then it will start the boot up process...
and the eventually dump you out to
and command prompt.

at the command prompt type the following

passwd root

it should then ask you for a password.
type a password
and then it should ask you for it again..
it think you then type exit OR quit...
i dont remember...or see if you can
even reboot the computer by typing

shutdown -r now

now wait for it to reboot...going through
a normal boot up and when it gets
to the point of asking for a login
try logging in...

if you are using grub as your boot loader...
i dont know the steps of doing the same as
i mentioned if you use lilo..

see if this helps out...

I am using grub. Unfortunately, I am not able to get to the console until about 5:30 PM Eastern. But I will try it for the grub as well.

If there are any other suggestions, they too would be much appreciated.

Thanks

this is how to boot to single user mode if you are using grub:
this is taken from the redhat site:

then just follow the rest of the information i provided earlier.

Booting Single-User Mode Directly
You may be able to boot single-user mode directly. If your system boots, but does not allow you to log in when it has completed booting, try single-user mode.

If you are using GRUB, use the following steps to boot into single-user mode:


If you have a GRUB password configured, type p and enter the password.

Select Red Hat Linux with the version of the kernel that you wish to boot and type e for edit. You will be presented with a list of items in the configuration file for the title you just selected.

Select the line that starts with kernel and type e to edit the line.

Go to the end of the line and type single as a separate word (press the [Spacebar] and then type single). Press [Enter] to exit edit mode.

Back at the GRUB screen, type b to boot into single user mode.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

And I Definitely learned a valuable lesson.

NO "passwd -l root"

tell you the truth...
i dont even know what passwd -l root does

but glad i could help out

-chris

actually the passwd -l LOCKS the user. It can only be done by root user. By locking out the root user, when I logged off, and tried to log back on... Suprise, I was LOCKED out.

Had I realized what I had done prior to logging off, I could have UNLOCKED it using the passwd -u root, but Alas, I screwed up.

Please learn from my mistake and DO NOT passwd -l root.

Thanks again.

Ill keep that in mind