16.8. Forgotten Password

Help! I forgot my root password. How do I log in now?

You can log in using single-user mode and create a new root password.

To enter single-user mode, reboot your computer. If you use the default boot loader, GRUB, you can enter single user mode by performing the following:

1. At the boot loader menu, type [e] to enter into editing mode.

2. You will be presented with a boot entry listing. Look for the line that looks similar to the following:

   kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-0.4 ro root=/dev/hda2

   Press the arrow key until this line is highlighted and press [e].

3. Press the Spacebar once to add a blank space, then add the word single to tell GRUB to boot into single-user Linux mode. Press [Enter] to make the editing change take effect.

4. You will be brought back to the edit mode screen. From here, press [b] and GRUB will boot single-user Linux mode. After it finishes loading, you will be presented with a shell prompt similar to the following:

   sh-2.05#

5. You can now change the root password by typing

   bash# passwd root

   You will be asked to re-type the password for verification. Once you are finished, the password will be changed. You can then reboot by typing reboot at the prompt; then you can log in to root as you normally would.