[arm-allstar] The forgotten root password blues

[Doug Crompton]

>From an earlier message...  It involves a few step and in many cases it
might be easier to just re-setup the node. Your choice....

I've gotten a few e-mail messages requesting more info about editing the
/etc/shadow file.  So, here it is.....

First, make a backup copy of this file, something like:

cd /etc
cp shadow shadow.backup

Then, here is what the contents looks like. Your file will probably be
slightly different. That's fine. Notice that I'm just including the 9
lines of the file. The remainder was below the <snip>. Don't truncate this
file when editing!

[root at Allstar-inttek etc]# cat shadow
root:$6$l7HzU5Ge$i.yO6XqGhbFnQQxLUI/NZoD2k23vbEhASTlV.cP40cFrsWpmfo3i5BEKyD0ZKFeE4guXsgsmgX0270cSBW3ir/:17684::::::
bin:x:14871::::::
daemon:x:14871::::::
mail:x:14871::::::
ftp:x:14871::::::
http:x:14871::::::
uuidd:x:14871::::::
dbus:x:14871::::::
nobody:x:14871::::::
<snip>


Note that only the "root" entry contains a password hash---this is the
second field. The fields are delimited by colons (":"). The first field is
the account name.

Rename the "root" account line to something else, like "root_old"...You
can also remove the old line entirely, if preferred:

root_old:$6$l7HzU5Ge$i.yO6XqGhbFnQQxLUI/NZoD2k23vbEhASTlV.cP40cFrsWpmfo3i5BEKyD0ZKFeE4guXsgsmgX0270cSBW3ir/:17684::::::


Now, paste in THIS  new line for the "root" account and save the file. It
has a hashed password of: HAMfun1901

root:$6$lOf4wZcQ$J6X9iCrOG9powS9hglu/4ozgEwf.b7wjh3Fq7Tx7p5JXr4EfuQpmgCIjV2Lsxq.lOLnosW9ld6iakF2Fz5F7H1:18235::::::


So, the /etc/shadow file will now look like:


[root at Allstar-inttek etc]# cat shadow
root:$6$l7HzU5Ge$i.yO6XqGhbFnQQxLUI/NZoD2k23vbEhASTlV.cP40cFrsWpmfo3i5BEKyD0ZKFeE4guXsgsmgX0270cSBW3ir/:17684::::::
root_old:$6$l7HzU5Ge$i.yO6XqGhbFnQQxLUI/NZoD2k23vbEhASTlV.cP40cFrsWpmfo3i5BEKyD0ZKFeE4guXsgsmgX0270cSBW3ir/:17684::::::
bin:x:14871::::::
daemon:x:14871::::::
mail:x:14871::::::
ftp:x:14871::::::
http:x:14871::::::
uuidd:x:14871::::::
dbus:x:14871::::::
nobody:x:14871::::::
<snip>


You can now place the SD card back in the original RPi and boot.  You
should be able to login as root with the password: HAMfun1901   ....Then,
go and change the root password to something else!

73, David KB4FXC

On Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 2:26 AM "KK4MJZ Repeater Admin via ARM-allstar" <
arm-allstar at hamvoip.org> wrote:

> With the numerous hacking attempts, I have changed tons of passwords that
> I frequently use.  Unfortunately I made my hamvoip ASL extremely hard and
> had a phone call right after without putting it in my secure password
> Database.
>
> Ive been reading numerous ways to reset it, but wanted to check to see if
> there is a certain way everyone here recommends?  Thank you in advance for
> the help.
> _______________________________________________
>
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>