16 Apr
2001
16 Apr
'01
8:54 p.m.
Mark,
Mark Green wrote:
This is a bit of a problem. My usual solution to this problem is
to boot a mini-root and edit the password file. You will probably
need to have an OS distribution in order to do this. What
you can do depends upon how your machine has been configured.
Start by getting into the PROM monitor, when you system boots
you will get a message that asks you to press ESC for system
maintenance. Press ESC, and then select option 5. This will get
you into the monitor. At the monitor prompt type ls and tell
me what you get. If you are lucky there might be a mini-root
there. There usually isn't, since its a security hole, but some
system admins back then were lazy and put a mini-root where it could
easily be booted from the PROM (this is more likely on a tape
based system).
I did get into the monitor and did a ? to check out the commands. I probably
won't get back to the box until later this week so I'll check for the
mini-root then. Will changing the /etc/passwd file take care of it or are
the passwords shadowed?
I don't have any tapes handy that might have an OS on it, I probably
won't make a trip back to Edmonton to check until August. Its
much easier to do the install from CD. If you have a SCSI CD-ROM
drive you are in business (the ones used by SUN are fairly common
and easy to find). You can search eBay for IRIX 5.3 CDs, I've seen
them there numerous times. Some of the other IRIX CDs might have
a mini-root on them, depends upon how they are installed.
Excellent. I certainly have plenty of external CDROM drives around here.
I'll start combing Ebay for a dist.
I hope this helps a bit.
More than a bit. Thank you.
Brian.
--
Dr. Mark Green mark(a)cs.ualberta.ca
McCalla Professor (780) 492-4584
Department of Computing Science (780) 492-1071 (FAX)
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2H1, Canada