Sign-on screen pops up again after logging in

[michaelwild]

Novice here needs help. SCO OpenServer 5.04. I added some lines to .profile trying to install a DBMS. I also messed with the Account Mgr. (graphic desktop) and changed shell for root account(it was just blank). Now when I log in the log-in screen just pops back up. I tried to ctrl-alt-F3 but most commands I enter (vi, pg) etc. I get a ksh: no such command. So I haven't been able to comment out my entries in .profile. Tried booting to unix.old & unix.safe but no change. What takes precedence, the account manager settings or the settings in .profile? .profile shows /bin/sh. How do I get my graphic log-in screen to work again?

 

[apeasecpc]

If you can get to a shell from some other login or application, you should be able to "su" to root level access and undo the damage (when "su" prompts for a password enter your root password).

Another thing you might try is rebooting and logging in to single user mode (at the "press Ctrl-D to continue" bootup prompt enter your root password).

For future reference, if you ever do anything to the root account, be sure to leave root logged on on one of your console windows and test the log in process from a different window before you log out. I also recommend you set up an alternate root account for emergencies such as this.

 

[michaelwild]

Thanks for the advice. No luck using su - it did prompt me for a root password but I wasn't sure what do. I did manage to invoke vi and edit .profile but that did not help. I will definitely create an alternate root account. This is a "practice" box to help me get hands-on UNIX experience. I will re-install and be more careful.

I would still like to know what I did in .profile or in changing the shell that would cause the problem.

 

[apeasecpc]

Your root login problem is related to your having changed the shell for root. If you can't clear the shell from scoadmin you will need to edit the /etc/passwd file directly.

root is usually the first line of the /etc/passwd file:

root:XR4oX1duVX5Uo,..DO:0:3:Superuser:/:

Your adding a shell probably changed the entry to something like this:

root:XR4oX1duVX5Uo,..DO:0:3:Superuser:/:/bin/sh

To clear the shell, remove the text that follows the last colon ":" of the line, but not the colon itself, and save the file.

root:XR4oX1duVX5Uo,..DO:0:3:Superuser:/:

Warning! Do not alter the contents between the first and second colon. Depending on your security settings, this may be the encrypted password for root, so altering it will corrupt the root password.

The "0" between the second and third colon is the user ID. Root is always user ID 0. To create an alternate root account simply create the account name using scoadmin, then edit the /etc/passwd file and change the user ID to 0 to give that ID root access.