Reseting root password Was: user name from security logs

[Alexander Klimov <alserkli () inbox ru>]

On Sun, 29 May 2005, Emmanuel Goldstein wrote:
> I have physical access to the computer and i can also access all hd's
> files using a LiveCD linux distribution.
>
> So, here's my question:  Is there anyway to change the admin password
> and/or get the machine's control back?

Boot a LiveCD, mount the root partition:

mkdir /tmp/a; mount /dev/hda1 /tmp/a

chroot to it:

chroot /tmp/a

and change the password:

passwd

Depending of authentication method used you can do it more directly,
e.g., changing a line in /etc/shadow:

root:password-hash:....

to

root::....

-- 
Regards,
ASK