Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:29:47 -0700 From: Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu@FreeBSD.org> To: Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu> Cc: Aniruddha <mailing_list@orange.nl>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Can't login as root after changing the shell to bash Message-ID: <20081014192947.GB57756@icarus.home.lan> In-Reply-To: <20081014192024.GA8930@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> References: <1224008893.4098.6.camel@debian> <20081014192024.GA8930@gizmo.acns.msu.edu>
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On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 03:20:24PM -0400, Jerry McAllister wrote: > On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 08:28:13PM +0200, Aniruddha wrote: > > > I tried to change the root's shell to bash. I used this command: 'chsh > > -s /usr/local/bin/bash'. Prior to changing the shell for root I did it > > for my user account using the same command without problems. > > Unfortunately after a reboot I can't login as root anymore because my > > system can't find /usr/local/bin/bash. How can I fix this? I tried > > booting the freesbie cd but this wouldn't boot :(. Thanks in advance! > > Sounds like /usr/local/bin is either not in the path for root or > that the /usr or /usr/local file system is not mounted - which would > be true in a single user boot. > > You should never change root's shell. It is doable if you move > some files around, but it is too likely that you will come up with > a situation like this where the alternate shell is not available. > > You can try coming up in 'single user' mode. > Older systems required you to hit the space bar within the countdown. > Newer ones require you to select the right option from a menu. I think > it is '4' but don't want to reboot at the minute to check. > > It will ask you which shell you want. Just take the default (eg hit ENTER). > Then remount / by doing: > mount -u / > Then edit /etc/passwd using the vipw(8) utility - just type: > vipw Note that he'll need to mount /var and /tmp for vi to work. Has to do with use of temporary files being placed in /tmp, and recovery files using /var/tmp/vi.recover. It's usually best to just do: # mount -a # mount -o rw -u / Which under ideal circumstances should take care of everything. -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc at parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |
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