Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 22:42:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> To: Doug Reynolds <mav@wastegate.net> Cc: Jesse Rock <jesse@accretive-networks.net>, "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: emergency password problem Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10204182229360.19338-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> In-Reply-To: <20020418222028.9F72248449@wastegate.net>
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On Thu, 18 Apr 2002, Doug Reynolds wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Apr 2002 00:22:16 -0700 (PDT), Annelise Anderson wrote:
>
> >But....you could pop another drive in there, put even a minimal
> >FreeBSD installation on it, and then mount the partitions on
> >the existing drives, and fix /etc/master.passwd. The problem is
> >getting a password database; one way to do it would be to edit it,
> >(the version on the old installation), deleting the root password entry;
> >(but not the root account); copy it to the new /etc (after having backed
> >up the master.passwd on the new installation), and use vipw on the new
> >installation to get the password database rebuilt (with all the same
> >users but no password for root), copy all the relevant files over the
> >ones on the old installation....and reboot the old installation.
> >
> >Think about those steps--I haven't actualy done this.
>
> I _think_ that could be possible by using the fixit floppy too couldn't
> it?
Yes, once you get the hard drive partition mounted. I think you
would do it using vipw -d /path/to/hardrive/etc
From man vipw:
When run without options, vipw will work with the password files in /etc.
The -d option may be used to specify an alternative directory to work
with.
pwd_mkdb has the same option (surprise!)
I find the fixit floppy/cd harder to work with than another installation
of FreeBSD. A picobsd floppy could also be used, although you might in
that case have to call vipw from the hard drive, wherever it's located
after you mount the file systems.
What I learned from this is that a machine that isn't physically
secure isn't secure even if you require a password at the console. Not
that that's really news, though.
Annelise
--
Annelise Anderson
Author of: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your PC
Available from: BSDmall.com and amazon.com
Book Website: http://www.bittreepress.com/FreeBSD/introbook/
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