From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Dec 11 9:55:40 2000 From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 11 09:55:38 2000 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from zeus.host4u.net (zeus.host4u.net [216.71.64.21]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D17FA37B400 for ; Mon, 11 Dec 2000 09:55:37 -0800 (PST) Received: from eli (onlinecables.com [63.204.24.242]) by zeus.host4u.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA18333 for ; Mon, 11 Dec 2000 11:36:25 -0600 From: "Robert Shea" To: Subject: shell Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 09:52:40 -0800 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) In-Reply-To: <200012111716.eBBHGtJ31143@ptavv.es.net> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Importance: Normal Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG As freeBSD gets more and more popular, and draws more less experienced users I cannot even remember how many times I have had to fix problems like this, or have see this problem on this very mailing list. Perhaps on top of every page in the install section of The Complete FreeBSD should say in 48pt. font "DO NOT CHANGE YOUR ROOT SHELL UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!" and even then there are better solutions... Andrey... if you find the need to change your root shell... you are using that account way too much. (as evident by : "I do not have any other users through which I can get into the system") *gets off of his soapbox* -Robert %> Hi! %> %> I have installed a FreeBSD on my computer two days ago, and I am new at %> this. While attempting to change the shell (from csh to tcsh) that is %> loaded for root, I made a mistake. I used the "vipw" command, and %> accidently typed "kcsh" instead of "tcsh" (a stupid mistake, I know). I %> realized this only after I saved and rebooted the system - and it was %> too late. I do not have any other users through which I can get into the %> system, and logging as a root only gives an error message that it can't %> find the "kcsh" shell. I tried the installation boot floppies to get %> into the setup utility, but this didn't work. %> %> Can you suggest any methods other than re-installation of the system %> that can be used to start the proper shell and correct the mistake? Are %> there any login commands or options that can be used to start a shell, %> or is there any way to get into the set-up utility? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message