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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,mailing.freebsd.hackers,mailing.freebsd.questions Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!EU.net!sun4nl!charon.cvi.ns.nl!Utrecht.NL.net!hacom.nl!gamp.hacom.nl!usenet From: G. Albert Mietus <albert@gamp.hacom.nl> Subject: Re: HELP!!! -- Forgot Root Password... Any way to recover? X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.0.10 To: "Shane Pilon" <spilon@worldnet.att.net> Sender: albert@beowulf.gamp.hacom.nl Nntp-Posting-Host: localhost Lines: 25 Organization: We aren't! Should we, then it's SW, Education and Advice. Message-ID: <87viakzn1g.fsf@beowulf.gamp.hacom.nl> References: <01bbe071$12cef560$53c092cf@ashen> In-Reply-To: "Shane Pilon"'s message of 2 Dec 1996 16:56:25 GMT Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 20:52:44 GMT In article <01bbe071$12cef560$53c092cf@ashen> "Shane Pilon" <spilon@worldnet.att.net> writes: > We are running a 2.1.0 Release installation of FreeBSD and the usual admin > has forgotten the root password. Is there a way for us to recover or > change the root password without a complete rebuild? > This is urgent! I do have physical access to the PC, and can reboot it if Easy: just reboot with a FreeBSD (bootable) floppy. Then mount the disk that contains /etc/(master.)passwd Edit that file (back up first!) and reboot normally. Editing can be hard when you boot from flop; then used rename the passwd file (master and "slave") and create a new one with cat > <file> and just enter a root account. While encripted passwd's are used, you should use a empty one. But don't forget to change it as fast as possible! Good Luck Albert.