Troubleshooting
How to Change the Root Password on Another Drive Using a Live Distribution Bootable USB
July 7, 2017
10 min read
Warning: If you have RAID configured for your drive, it may shove existing RAID 'multiple devices' (md) into a different device name.
Example: 'md1, md2, md3' may move over to 'md127, md128. md129'; when booting back into the drive, you may need to re-mount the partitions if they are set to mount during boot.
Previous sysadmin didn't leave the root password for the system? Here is a quick guide to resetting the password on systems with a Linux-based OS.
1. On the live disiti, make a directory for mounting the target drive containing the boot partition
root@live:~$ mkdir /home/exx/target |
2. Locate boot partition of target drive (in this example, it would be '/dev/sdb1')
root@live:~$ fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 32.1 GB, 32094814208 bytes, 62685184 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x000a0fa4 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 32 62685183 31342576 c W95 FAT32 (LBA) Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x0007fbf1 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 2048 1026047 512000 83 Linux /dev/sdb2 1026048 1953523711 976248832 8e Linux LVM |
3. Mount target drive partition to the directory file you just created
root@live:~$ mount /dev/sdb1 /home/exx/target |
4. Use 'chroot' command to become root user of that file system
root@live:~$ chroot |
5. Use 'passwd' command to change root password
root@live:~$ passwd Changing password for user root. New password: |
6. Exit 'chroot' shell
root@live:~$ exit |
7. Safely unmount the drive from the file system you created
root@live:~$ umount /dev/sdb1 /home/exx/target |
Be sure to remove the bootable flashdrive to make sure you don't accidentally boot into the live OS again, and boot back into the drive that you just changed the root password for.
Troubleshooting
How to Change the Root Password on Another Drive Using a Live Distribution Bootable USB
July 7, 201710 min read
Warning: If you have RAID configured for your drive, it may shove existing RAID 'multiple devices' (md) into a different device name.
Example: 'md1, md2, md3' may move over to 'md127, md128. md129'; when booting back into the drive, you may need to re-mount the partitions if they are set to mount during boot.
Previous sysadmin didn't leave the root password for the system? Here is a quick guide to resetting the password on systems with a Linux-based OS.
1. On the live disiti, make a directory for mounting the target drive containing the boot partition
root@live:~$ mkdir /home/exx/target |
2. Locate boot partition of target drive (in this example, it would be '/dev/sdb1')
root@live:~$ fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 32.1 GB, 32094814208 bytes, 62685184 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x000a0fa4 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 32 62685183 31342576 c W95 FAT32 (LBA) Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x0007fbf1 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 2048 1026047 512000 83 Linux /dev/sdb2 1026048 1953523711 976248832 8e Linux LVM |
3. Mount target drive partition to the directory file you just created
root@live:~$ mount /dev/sdb1 /home/exx/target |
4. Use 'chroot' command to become root user of that file system
root@live:~$ chroot |
5. Use 'passwd' command to change root password
root@live:~$ passwd Changing password for user root. New password: |
6. Exit 'chroot' shell
root@live:~$ exit |
7. Safely unmount the drive from the file system you created
root@live:~$ umount /dev/sdb1 /home/exx/target |
Be sure to remove the bootable flashdrive to make sure you don't accidentally boot into the live OS again, and boot back into the drive that you just changed the root password for.
