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Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 10:20:28 -0600
From: Nikolas Britton <freebsd@nbritton.org>
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To: Andrew Lewis <al@xms.co.za>
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cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Breaking password on FreeBSD 5.2.1 box
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Andrew Lewis wrote:

>Hi list,
>
>We have a client running a fBSD 5.2.1 box that needed its root password
>hacked.
>
>I couldn't boot into single user mode w/o the root password, so I
>installed fBSD 5.3 on another machine, and slaved the drive from the
>5.2.1 box in mine.
>  
>
What?

Step 1: Boot the computer.
Step 2: At the FreeBSD boot menu select "Escape to loader prompt"
Step 3: Type in "boot -s" and hit enter.
Step 4: Hit enter when it asks you what shell you want to use.
Step 5: Type in "cat /etc/fstab" and hit enter.
Step 6: Mount / and /usr, "mount /dev/foobar /", "mount /dev/foobar /usr".
Step 7: Type in "passwd" and hit enter.
Step 8: Type in new password and hit enter.
Step 9: Retype in new password and hit enter.
Step 10: type in "reboot" and hit enter.

I just try'ed it with FreeBSD 4.10 and 5.3 and it worked for both of them.