IRIX 5.3 and resetting root password - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

28 Jun 2004

On Jun 27, 19:01, Jules Richardson wrote:
...

 Right, the 'new' machine has IRIX 5.3 installed, and is using shadow
 passwords. So, first I tried editing the passwd file and just clearing
...
  the password field for root's entry (which was
just set to 'x',
 presumably to signify the use of a shadow password), then booting from
...
  the 'new' disk with the cleared password.

 That didn't work - it just gave me an invalid login message. So instead
...
  I tried the same, but cleared the encrypted password
string in the
 /etc/shadow file.

 Still no luck. I've now tried with and without the 'x' present in the
 passwd file, and with and without the encrypted password string in the
...
  shadow file.

 A few possibilities spring to mind:

 1) IRIX 5.3 doesn't allow direct root login on the X console? 
It does.  Unless someone has restricted root logins to a particular
device.

...
  2) The system's set up to use some sort of
authentication other than
 /etc/passwd - any pointers for what to look for if so? 
See if /etc/default/login has a line that says "SITECHECK=<something>"

If it does, comment it out.  In fact, comment out anything that looks
unusually restrictive.

...
  3) The system's set to read from a file other then
/etc/shadow - no idea
...
  where this is set up if so. 
I don't think you can do that in IRIX 5.3, except as above.

However, root's login might not be valid if root's home directory isn't
available, or root's shell isn't acceptable, or if there's something in
/var/Cadmin/clogin.conf to prevent it, or if there's some restriction
on where root can log in (see /etc/default/login).  If you delete
/etc/shadow (or better, move it out the way) and delete the password
field for root in /etc/passwd, it should work.  The first line of
/etc/passwd should look like:

root::0:0:root:/:

Even if /etc/default/login has "MANDPASS=YES" in it, this works for
root.

The reason I suggest moving /etc/shadow out of the way is that it
records things like whether a password has expired, or an account is
locked because of excessive failed logins.

-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Network Manager
						University of York