Root password won't work 1

[markman42]

System says the root password is wrong and a I know for sure I didn't change it but on the 15th something had changed. I get the feeling I am up a creek without a paddle. Is there a way I can open the shadow file and see what the system is using as a password.

 

[cfsalmeida]

for recover the root password you must halt the system, then from open boot prompt (Stop+A), boot from cdrom.
ok boot cdrom -s
1)mount root filesystem (e.g assuming root disk as c0t0d0:
# mount /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 /a
2)from the root prompt edit "shadow" file:
#TERM=sun; export TERM
#vi /a/etc/shadow
3)I believe the first line of the file is the one you want to modify. it looks like this:

root:c3.yAVmYodWsc:6445::::::

You want to delete every character between the first and second colons in this line, when you are finished it should look like this:

root::6445::::::

After you delete those characters you want to perform a write force quit to exit vi, in other words, from command mode type in :wq! this will quit the document and save the changes.
4)next step is to unmount the file system, by doing this you want to perform these following commands:
# cd /
# umount /a
5)your next and final step is to reboot the system, once you are prompted for the login, then type the login name, you should get in automatically, then change the root password accordingly.
# sync;sync;reboot ....

Hope it helps,

Regards,

Carlos Almeida.

 

[markman42]

Thank you very much. I should have reviewed more of the post before panicking. The steps work out perfectly.

Thanks again.
Mark