SUMMARY: Forgot Root Password on Solaris 2.4

From: David Allan Finch (sarum@monosys.com)
Date: Tue Oct 18 1994 - 16:28:30 CDT


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THANKS

        A big harty thanks to everyone that replied:

        "Robert D. Worsham" <worsham@aer.com>
        Danny Barron <dbarron@uafphpl.uark.edu>
        "John A. Lauro" <lauro_j@msb.flint.umich.edu>
        Jun Wu <jun@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu>
        Bonnie Lucas <lucas@nadn.navy.mil>
        Michael Kline <mike@birch.lib.utexas.edu>
        "Michael (M.A.) Meystel" <MEYSTMA%DUVM.BITNET@pucc.princeton.edu>
        Casper Dik <casper@fwi.uva.nl>

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QUESTION

        How do I delete my root password when I forget it?

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ANSWER ( derived from "Michael (M.A.) Meystel"'s answer which
         was the most complete, but must people had the
         relevent points)

        1) at boot prompt type

                        ok> boot cdrom -s

        2) mount your / slice

                        # mount /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s0 /mnt

        3) edit and delete the root password

                        # vi /mnt/etc/shadow

                NOTE this is the second field, remove the contents

        4) restart the system

                        # halt

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WHAT I DID WRONG :-)

        I saw NP in the second field of the /etc/shadow file
        and assumed (yes, ass of you and me ;-) that this
        meant No Password. NP must be the same as * in the
        old passwd file (ie only root can su to)



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