Spectral Dynamics - JAGUAR FAQ Forgotten Password

Have you ever forgotten your Password?

Forgotten passwords prevent logins. This situation can be exceedingly frustrating but is not a catastrophe.

The first remedy is to retype the password carefully and slowly. Since the password entry is not echoed, errors, such as fat fingers causing double key hits and dyslexia due to stress, are not immediately apparent on the screen. Also, remember that UNIX is case sensitive and the 'Caps Lock' key could be the culprit.

The second remedy is to inquire of the other people with access to the system as to whether the password was intentionally changed. The command 'passwd' that changes passwords is a well known command.

The last remedy is to delete the encrypted password from the system so that you can login without a password and then change the password to one that you wish. If the forgotten password is the password to a normal user account, follow the next procedure. If the forgotton password is the 'root' or 'superuser' password, skip the next procedure and follow the procedure for 'forgotten root password'. You will need a Solaris 2.5 CDROM disk and a CDROM drive for this procedure.

Forgotten user account password:

In the 'xterm' window, enter the commands:
PRESS ONLY THE FOLLOWING KEYS IN THIS EXACT ORDER!!
- Press the "x" key 13 times until all of the encrypted password is deleted.
```
 diag:::::::::::

     ^
     |
     ------  delete only the 13 character encrypted password.
             It is the second field after the account field.
             The colons are delimiters between fields.
             (This example shows the password already deleted).
```
- Press the ':' and 'w' and 'q' and 'Return' keys.
  
  # chmod 400 /etc/shadow
Logout of the 'root' account by moving the mouse cursor to the blue background and pressing the right mouse button. The Workspace menu will appear and you should move the mouse pointer to the selection 'Exit…' and press the left mouse button. At the Confirm window, select 'Exit' with the left mouse button.
Login to the user account. You may press the Return key at the 'Password' prompt since the password has just been removed.
Open an Xterm window from the Workspace menu and create the new password for this account with the command:

Forgotten 'root' or 'superuser' password:

Bring the system to the 'ok' boot prompt by pressing the 'Stop' and 'A' keys together.
For external CDROM drives only, connect the SCSI cable to the rear panel connector of both the CDROM drive and the SparcStation.
Place the Solaris 2.5 CDROM disk in the CDROM drive.
Boot to the CDROM in Single User mode by entering the following command:
Mount the root partition of the hard disk to the CDROM's temporary mount point by entering the following command in a "cmdtool" window:
Change to the "/etc" directory in the root partition by entering the following command:
Set the TERM variable, delete write protection from the 'shadow' file and use the 'vi' text editor to remove the encrypted root password for the root account in the 'shadow' file by entering the following commands:
PRESS ONLY THE FOLLOWING KEYS IN THIS EXACT ORDER!!
- Press 'down arrow' 0 times until the cursor isover the 'r' in 'root'. ("0 times" indicates that the cursor should be in position already).
- Press 'right arrow' 5 times until the cursor is over the first encrypted password character to the right of the first colon.
- Press the 'x' key 13 times until all of the encrypted password is deleted.
```
 root::6445:::::::::

     ^
     |
     ------  delete only the 13 character encrypted password.
             It is the second field after the account field.
             The colons are delimiters between fields.
             (This example shows the password already deleted).
```
- Press the ':' and 'w' and 'q' and 'Return' keys.
  
  # chmod 400 shadow
Change to the root directory, unmount the hard disk, set the clean bit with the 'fsck' command and reboot the system by entering the following commands:
Login to the 'root' account. You may press the Return key at the 'Password' prompt since the root password was just removed.
In the 'cmdtool' window, create the new root password by entering the following command:

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