Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 15 of 15

Thread: Recovering root password...

  1. #11
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    6
    The root account is always there you just have to setup the login screen to allow you to login....at least that is my limited understanding of how it works....

    look at the link on the first post...thats the instructions i followed...

  2. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    251
    all right... so in order to be able to login as root you have to setup the ability to login as root through NetInfo Manager... the easiest way of doing this is from an administrative account...
    However, it is possible to go through the commands in the command line...

    a hint is read the man page for program niutil.

    I at one point new how to add users through niutil..., but then I got lazy and switched from Darwin to Mac OS X...

    The EASIEST method of fixing that Mac would be buying Jaguar for it... Or you could just go crazy and wipe off X and install some flavor of PPC Linux...

    I'm not going to give step by step instructions to anybody..., mainly because everytime I run niutil I am told that I misused it. But, then..., I am not the one trying ot bust into a Mac...

    Though this does exemplify the reason that physical security is so important. One you allow a machine to boot into Single User mode, you never know what some inventive luser is going to do to your workstation...

    Peace,
    Dhej
    The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk. -Hegel

  3. #13
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    3
    boot into single user mode. from there go into the directory var/db. You should see a fille called .AppleSetupDone remove this file and reboot. now when you start the computer setup assistant will run and you can set up an admin account. hope this helps
    z
    Keep Working It

  4. #14
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    1
    The most simple way to reset the user password is to pop in the Install CD/DVD and go to the install menu. There is an option to reset the passwords.

    Another option is to remotely mount the drive useing firewire target disk mode. ("T" at boot)

    You should learn NetInfo Manager, it does everything that /etc does.

    finally use ssh you can remotely log into the machine and reset any password.

    ssh root@yourhostiphere
    the root password

    cd /Users
    select a user name
    su username
    passwd
    and change the password.
    That should do the trick

  5. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Posts
    114
    You shouldn't log in as root under MacOSX. Make an admin user for yourself instead. Admin users are allowed to issue commands as root using sudo, and GUI programs have a special API for doing stuff as root (with an admin user's permission). This is a totally excellent security feature, since it lets you know when any application is trying to do something as root. So, no 3v1l trojan is going to replace /bin/ls or put your ethernet card in promiscuous mode without giving you some warning. (Compare to MS Windows, where toy pretty much have to be an Administrator all the time, or other unix-like systems, which are great on the command line, but break down whenever you start X.)

    My advice is to try the .AppleSetupDone hack, or boot from the CD if that doesn't work. Do not enable root login, it's just another account that you keep track of, and you'll be happier without it.

    BTW, to start in single user mode, hold down command (it's the one with the apple on it) and s while the system boots.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •