[SOLVED] Unable to reset the root password

[BlueDragon]

Hi all,

Due to a very long inactivity I simply can't remember my root password for Mageia 6. I can't update anything without it.
I have tried the method explained here but once I type in a new password, either it's not accepted because it's too short or a "dictionary word" or for any other reason and if it's not this, then I get an "authentication token manipulation error".

I'm stuck with this and I'm wondering if I will be forced to install the latest version from scratch. (Anyway it seems that it's not possible to upgrade directly from Mageia 6 to 8, which is another problem I'll address in a separate post.)

Thanks for helping me out in this matter.

[doktor5000]

You may want to search the forum, although resetting root password is the same for all linux distros.
As kernel option amend init=/bin/sh and then set a new password - this might warn your about simple passwords, but as you do this as root it will still set the password regardless.

[BlueDragon]

Yes, I already searched the forum and that's why I already tried the way with init=/bin/sh.

In the meantime it appeared that actually my password was simply blank. I don't know (remember) how I did it but in the GUI it's working this way. That's probably the reason I could never match it by trying different ones out.

[doktor5000]

So you were able to reset your root password or guess the old one?
Then please don't forget to mark the thread as solved, by editing the subject of the first post and prefix it with [SOLVED], thanks in advance.

[BlueDragon]

So you were able to reset your root password or guess the old one?

Sorry for my late reply. No, it appears that in spite of all my efforts, the root password still could not be changed. In the meantime I investigated further and understood why I had the impression at GUI level, that there was no password set at all. It has simply to do with the settings in the MCC: I set everything on "no password" under 'configure authentication required to access Mageia tools'.

So I'm back to step 1 and the question, why do I get an "authentication token manipulation error" and how can I get rid of it? As reminder, I went the way appending the command init=/bin/sh in the bootloader menu.

[BlueDragon]

Update: Finally I found out what was the problem. In this thread there is a link to an article, which pointed out the need to include rw in the appended part, thus I tried with rw init=/bin/bash and the result was finally successful.

BTW I had also the problem to get out of this shell without kernel panic. I also didn't find any way except to simply force a hardware reboot. Fact is, that neither commands as reboot or init 6 (as suggested) are working there. Anyway, it had not impact on the positive outcome.

Thus I can now close this thread as solved.

[doktor5000]

It has simply to do with the settings in the MCC: I set everything on "no password" under 'configure authentication required to access Mageia tools'.

If you open a root terminal from MCC, and set your password there, what happens?
Also as root the output of the following commands would be helpful:

Code: Select all

getent shadow root
passwd -S root