Re: Locked Out of FreeBSD 5.2 - Newbie

From: Bill Vermillion (bv_at_wjv.comREMOVE)
Date: 02/01/04 

Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 02:15:01 GMT

In article <i6YSb.5126$Zi2.4705@edtnps84>, Mickey
<mglowy@compuserve.com> wrote:

>Mark,
>
>Just an added note to my previous message..
>
>All the files and directories I can look at show that the files
>are owned by toor instead of root (root backwards). Is this part
>of FreeBSD or is this something strange?

That means you have accidentally removed the root login from the
password file.

root is the basic password with csh which is an enhanced sh.
toor is a plain vanilla /bin/sh login with no bells and whistles.

When the system looks at the numeric ID of a file it maps it to the
first one it finds, and in the password file there should be root
followed by too.

This is how the first 4 lines of a typical password file will look.

# $FreeBSD: src/etc/master.passwd,v 1.25.2.6 2002/06/30 17:57:17 des Exp $
#
root:$1$XXXXXXXXXXX$YYYYYYYYYY.:0:0::0:0:Charlie and His Dog &:/root:/bin/ksh
toor:*:0:0::0:0:Bourne-again Superuser:/root:

I've masked the salt and password with letters in the above. I add
'His Dog' for kicks.

But notice the "0:0::0:0: in both. In the first two 0's those are
the IDs for the owner and group respectively. The system reads the
first match, so if you say that you see 'toor' for owner then you
have removed the one called root.

Login as single user, mount the files [ mount -a ] run vipw. Then
duplicate the root line by typing yy and then p [this assumes vi
commands].

Then go over the toor in the first entry and change it to root, and
then :wq - to write and save. If you made errors in the file vipw
will NOT let you save it.

Then things should work more correctly.

Bill

>
>
>"Mark Dixon" <mnd999@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:pan.2004.01.31.23.05.47.352000@hotmail.com...
>> On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 22:40:56 +0000, Mickey wrote:
>>
>> > When I log in using the boot CD and select 4 for single user, it just
>brings
>> > up the sysinstall screen. Going to Configure/Root Pasword gives me
>nothing.
>> > It will not allow changes from here. Is there something else you are
>> > supposed to do to get past the boot sequence and get to a bash prompt?
>All
>> > it does for me when I exit is to reboot the system and bring me back to
>the
>> > menu again.
>>
>> Sorry, boot the system (the hard disk), and not the CD. This sould give
>> you a bourne shell prompt.
>>
>> > Also how do you get to a prompt that accepts boot -s?
>>
>> If you've got the menu, its the last option, otherwise, when it waits five
>> seconds for you to press enter to beoot the kernel, press something else.
>>
>> > Also where in the 600+ pages of the FreeBSD Handbook does it talk about
>> > mountd. I did a search in the internet for mountd in the Handbook
>search
>> > engine and it did not bring up anything useful. Also, there is no index
>to
>> > the handbook to look up the application of the mountd command.
>> >
>> > I know I can get a man page on mountd but what should I be trying to do
>with
>> > it?? Can you tell me what sequence of steps to follow? I let FreeBSD
>set
>> > up the slices on the partition for a default configuration. Does this
>help?
>> >
>> > Any ideas???
>>
>> Sorry, I don't know where you got that from, mountd is something to do
>> with NFS, but I can't find the single user mode documentation either, so:
>>
>> Basically, before you can do anything in single user mode you need to
>> mount the hard disks.
>>
>> I usually do:
>>
>> fsck -p
>> mount -u /
>> mount -a
>> adjkerntz -i (this is probably not required)
>>
>> This should give you a useable prompt to fix whatever is wrong.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> 

-- 
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com

Relevant Pages

  • Re: changing root account name
    ... Subject: changing root account name ... >>> superuser account to be the first line in the passwd file? ... Some versions of Unix are not driven directly off the password file ...
    (Focus-Linux)
  • Re: Locked Out of FreeBSD 5.2 - Newbie
    ... the root line to comment it out. ... good file with a root line at the beginning of the file and toor after it. ... and in the password file there should be root ... > the IDs for the owner and group respectively. ...
    (comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc)
  • Re: KUser corrupts /etc/passwd under Freebsd 5.2.1 ??
    ... Anytime you manipulate the password file USE ... The root passwd shoul look like this in master.passwd ... Use ONLY vipw to edit the password file. ...
    (comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc)
  • Re: HowTo Disable execution of commands whit ssh and scp/sftp
    ... > give you a fair slice of the password file in a different form. ... > a limited set of commands as root. ... command, and only that one! ... # ssh sshuser@localhost ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: Locked Out of FreeBSD 5.2 - Newbie
    ... I will make the necessary corrections to put the toor ... line back in the file under the root line. ... > in the password file after the password. ...
    (comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc)