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Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 20:59:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug White <dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu>
Reply-To: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu
To: Jesse <bextreme@m4.sprynet.com>
cc: questions@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: (Fwd) Re: help! I forgot to set my password!!!!
In-Reply-To: <199608071857.LAA22139@m4.sprynet.com>
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On Wed, 7 Aug 1996, Jesse wrote:

> > >   HELP!!! when I installed freeBSD v2.1.5, I forgot to set the root
> > > password! Could you please tell me the default password so I can get
> > > into my system? 
> > > 

> well apparently it is. Everytime I boot up it says FreeBSD 
> (sprynet.com) tty01
> 
> 
> login:
> 
> so far I have tryed ever password and username combo I know, but it 
> keeps saying "invalid login", even under admin. 

Er, did you try responding 'root' to the login: prompt?

If you are really stuck:

At the Boot: prompt, type '-s' & enter.  You'll be asked

Enter shell or press RETURN for sh: 

Just hit ENTER.

At the #, run

mount /

then 

mount -a

Your filesystems should be back.

Then run /usr/sbin/vipw & blank out root's password (it'll be the jumble
of characters on the line starting with "root".  (In case you're new to
vi, put the cursor at the beginning of the encoded password and hit 'x' to
delete the character under the cursor until there is nothing between the
colons.)

Enter ZZ to save & quit.

Then run 'exit' to continue the boot process.  

Root now has no password; login as root then run 'passwd' to set a new
password for root.

Hope this makes sense.

Doug White                              | University of Oregon  
Internet:  dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu    | Residence Networking Assistant
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite    | Computer Science Major