- Turn the system off.
- Hit ESC when the OS boots up
- Choose to boot into Single User Mode (option 4)
- Select the default shell (/bin/sh)
- When the machine is booted up and you see the prompt, enter:
- mount -u /
- mount -a
- Type passwd to reset the password
- Enter the new password and confirm it
- Type reboot to reboot the machine (or press the shutdown button to reboot)
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August 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
This is only a feature for boxes that are in a secure location. Anywhere else, someone who’s alone with your machine could reboot it and get root!
For machines that are not in a secure location, you should edit “/etc/ttys” and mark the console as insecure. Then, after you reboot (or HUP init), no one can go to single-user mode without first entering the root password. … Bad for lost passwords, but good for security. :)
November 17th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
It happened to me once and it was quite complicated to discover this even though it’s similar to linux. I agree you should put the console as insecure but then what? You can use a boot cd with a portable cd drive so the box is more protected. Any other ideas?