Problems booting operating system and with root password

[Adrian Pavone]

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Atom Powers wrote:
> On 5/26/06, Miguel <mmiranda at 123.com.sv> wrote:
>> Atom Powers wrote:
>>
>> > On 5/26/06, Miguel <mmiranda at 123.com.sv> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi, i have a similar problem, i forgot my root password and the server
>> >> its in a remote colocation site, is there a way to recover the
>> encrypted
>> >> password and crackit some way, i have my normal account (which is in
>> >> wheel group), i even know that the root's pass begings with
>> >> MAG_"something", but i really cant remember the complete root's pass,
>> >> rebooting in single user mode is my best bet?
>> >>
>> >
>> > If you are in wheel, then you should be able to "sudo su" to switch to
>> > the root account and then "passwd root" to reset the password.
>> >
>> :-(
>> No luck, this is the error
>>
>>  > sudo su
>>
>> We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
>> Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:
>>
>>     #1) Respect the privacy of others.
>>     #2) Think before you type.
>>     #3) With great power comes great responsibility.
>>
>> Password:
>> mmiranda is not in the sudoers file.  This incident will be reported.
>>  > sudo su
>> mmiranda is not in the sudoers file.  This incident will be reported.
>>  > passwd root
>> passwd: permission denied
>>  >
>>
>> I entered my account's password...
>>
>> Anything more?
>>
> 
> Yes. Check your man pages; the format of the sudoers file is very specific.
> Usually you can get away with a line like this:
> -- 
> %wheel    ALL=(ALL)    ALL
> -- 
> 
> 

Altough can't only root modify (write changes to) the sudoers file? As
he is trying to get access to root (without a root password), this is
not possible from what I can see.

Regards,
Adrian

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