Smart questions
Smart answers
Smart people
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS

Member Login
Remember Me
Forgot Password?
Join Us!

Come Join Us!

Are you a
Computer / IT professional?
Join Tek-Tips now!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
Join Tek-Tips
*Tek-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

LINK TO THIS FORUM!

Add Stickiness To Your Site By Linking To This Professionally Managed Technical Forum.
Just copy and paste the
code below into your site.

Tek-Tips LinkedIn® Group

Partner With Us!

"Best Of Breed" Forums Add Stickiness To Your Site
Partner Button
(Download This Button Today!)

Feedback

"...I am very happy with the whole site and would like to extend my compliments to all of you who work to make it one of the most useful sites (If not THE Most Useful) ...and the easiest to navigate..."
More...

Geography

Where in the world do Tek-Tips members come from?
Click Here To Find Out!

Tek-Tips Shirts!

Get Tek-Tips Swag
Get your
Tek-Tips Forums
SWAG here!
Home > Forums > MIS/IT > Operating Systems - UNIX based > IBM: AIX Forum

Need to recover root password on RS 6000

thread52-10479
Read More Threads Like This One
funkyd (IS/IT--Management)
27 Apr 00 14:38
I have "inherited" and old 6000/370 box and am trying to ascertain its usability.  Unfortunately, the root password is lost and I can't boot single user as I am prompted for a password.  I have searched my AIX "Technical Library" CD for a solution, but haven't found anything applicable.  Does anyone know a workaround?  Thanks.
MikeLacey (MIS)
28 Apr 00 5:54
Hi,

Can you boot from CD? You could then mount the root filesystem and edit the /etc/passwd file to remove the root passwd

Mike

Mike
Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com
Cargill's Corporate Web Site
Please don't send me email questions without posting them as well. Post the question and send me a note saying "Have a look at so-and-so would you?" - that's fine.

funkyd (IS/IT--Management)
28 Apr 00 9:42
No, I can't boot from CD.  There is a CD caddy in the drive at the moment, and I have not been able to eject it.  I was hoping that once I logged in that I could get the CD ejected.  Is there any other way to reset the root password?
MikeLacey (MIS)
28 Apr 00 12:58
Hmmm

I don't do this often - so please forgive me if I'm barking up the wrong tree here.

There's a key on the front of your cpu with three positions

off, maintenance and run (or similar sounding names)

turn the key to maintenance, reboot the server - right from power off

At that point I get a root shell - with no password prompt.

Watch the boot sequence carefully, I think it asks you about this at some point - and goes off on its own if you don't reply.

Mike
Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com
Cargill's Corporate Web Site
Please don't send me email questions without posting them as well. Post the question and send me a note saying "Have a look at so-and-so would you?" - that's fine.

funkyd (IS/IT--Management)
28 Apr 00 13:03
Been down that road.  What happens is that I am prompted for the password before it will let me go into single-user mode.  I also tried this on a PowerServer 370, and all it did was go into diagnostic mode.  This is very puzzling.
canes (Instructor)
3 May 00 9:13
Are you able to boot from a tape?  If so, you could boot from a mksysb from another machine.  Try to use mksysb w/ the same architecture (i.e. Microchannel vs. PCI)

Doug Tyre
dtyre@miami.edu
NGJ Information Systems Institute (at UM)
Read More Threads Like This One

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Tek-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Tek-Tips and talk with other members!

Back To Forum

Back To IBM: AIX

Close Box

Join Tek-Tips® Today!

Join your peers on the Internet's largest technical computer professional community.
It's easy to join and it's free.

Here's Why Members Love Tek-Tips Forums:

Register now while it's still free!

Already a member? Close this window and log in.

Join Us             Close