Linux Alternatip: Reset Your Linux Root Password
July 17th, 2001I had a couple of technology related articles published on the web by ZDNet and ZDTV back when I worked with them circa 1998-2001. I’ve been trying to find them to save for historical purposes; so far all I have found is this very small “alternatip” that I apparently contributed to ZDTV on July 17, 2001. -JR February, 2006.
Linux Alternatip: Reset Your Linux Root Password
written by Jeremy Randall on Tuesday, July 17, 2001
If you should happen to forget your Linux root password, you’re going to have to change it. Here’s how:
1. Start your computer. At the LILO prompt, type “linux single.” Your machine will now start in single user mode.
2. Type “passwd” and enter the password that you want for your root user. It should then say “all tokens updated successfully.”
3. You can now restart the machine shutdown, for now. When the machine restarts, you will be able to log in as root with the new password.
