Enabling root login without an administrator account

[Chuck Swiger]

Hi--

On Jul 10, 2008, at 1:58 PM, Veronica Labarca wrote:
> I have inherited a FreeBSD server and need to change the apache
> configuration, but cannot log in to the server. I have the root  
> password
> (and know how to change it if needed in any case). The problem is  
> that root
> login is disabled. There are various administrative accounts on the  
> server,
> but I don't have the password to any of those. Can someone advise me  
> as to
> either, how to get the root login enabled or how to change the  
> password on a
> different account?
> Thanks for any help you can provide.

If you can login to the machine directly on console, the root password  
should work.  At which point, set up a normal user account which is in  
the wheel group and can use su, and/or install sudo.  Or use passwd to  
change the passwords of some of the existing accounts to a known state.

If you really want to permit remote logins as root via SSH, edit /etc/ 
ssh/sshd_config and set "PermitRootLogin yes", and then restart  
SSHd...but please be warned that this is a significant security risk,  
unless you take measures like disabling password in favor of SSH keys  
only, or use a firewall to restrict which machines can connect to SSHd  
on this machine.

Regards,
-- 
-Chuck