How to restore a lost root password...

[Steven Susbauer]

Mauricio López wrote:
>On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Daniel Bye
><danielby at slightlystrange.org> wrote:
>>On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 09:18:25PM +0100, Rada alive wrote:
>>>>I have seen a "How to" about this but I have a problem, i set the 
>>>>console
>>>>to insecure, so when I try to do the step of the "how to" i get a 
>>>>message
>>>>to input the root password or Ctrl-D to enter in multiuser mode.
>>>What happened to just booting into single-user mode and issuing passwd?
>>The OP made a point of letting us know that he has marked his console
>>`insecure' in /etc/ttys. In order to even get a shell in single user,
>>he needs the root password.
>>
>
>As far as I know, from my previous Linux experience, you just need a
>LiveCD in order to boot the PC, mount the / partition, edit
>/etc/passwd or /etc/shadow and change the hash for one that correspond
>to one we know. Perhaps you can make it in every UNIX.
>
Mauricio López wrote:
>On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Daniel Bye
><danielby at slightlystrange.org> wrote:
>>On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 09:18:25PM +0100, Rada alive wrote:
>>>>I have seen a "How to" about this but I have a problem, i set the
console
>>>>to insecure, so when I try to do the step of the "how to" i get a
message
>>>>to input the root password or Ctrl-D to enter in multiuser mode.
>>>What happened to just booting into single-user mode and issuing passwd?
>>The OP made a point of letting us know that he has marked his console
>>`insecure' in /etc/ttys. In order to even get a shell in single user,
>>he needs the root password.
>>
>
>As far as I know, from my previous Linux experience, you just need a
>LiveCD in order to boot the PC, mount the / partition, edit
>/etc/passwd or /etc/shadow and change the hash for one that correspond
>to one we know. Perhaps you can make it in every UNIX.
>
This is similar to what Matthew Seaman was mentioning.

I am curious though, might it be possible to boot from something like
Freesbie (or a fixit disc), mount the drive, chroot to the actual
install and run passwd like normal to change the password? Does root on
FreeBSD ask to verify the old password when trying to change its own?