[BBLISA] Reset root password on FreeBSD

[Mathew Snyder]

I tried the toor option. Didn't work. I guess these people are smarter than
the average vendor. ;)

I've booted to installation media and selected the single-user mode. I've
got the shell but when I attempt to follow the steps I've found on various
sites it doesn't work. Generally, they all follow the same procedure:

mount -a (or mount -u /)
passwd

However, this doesn't accomplish anything. when I look at df I'm only
seeing the installation media and devfs as mounted. I looked at /dev but
can't make out which, if any, of the entries are the partition I'm trying
to mount.

When I run passwd it seems to be executing from the installation media as
it fails to change the password due to what I've ascertained is a problem
making changes to a read-only filesystem. After I ran mount -o rw -a I get
the same result.

Any further help is appreciated.
-Mathew

"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at
all." - God; Futurama

"We'll get along much better once you accept that you're wrong and neither
am I." - Me



On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 1:53 PM, Morse, Richard E.MGH
<REMORSE at partners.org>wrote:

> You might also try using the 'toor' account -- this usually exists on
> FreeBSD, although I forget if it needs a password -- but if the vendor
> isn't paying attention they might have left this account unrestricted.
>
> Ricky
>
> On Oct 23, 2012, at 11:50 AM, Mathew Snyder wrote:
>
> > Thanks guys. I'm downloading an ISO right now.
> >
> > -Mathew
> >
> > "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at
> > all." - God; Futurama
> >
> > "We'll get along much better once you accept that you're wrong and
> neither
> > am I." - Me
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:48 AM, <kurin at delete.org> wrote:
> >
> >> I haven't *tested* this, but I'm 99% sure it works:
> >>
> >> 1. Download a copy of the 9.0 install media.
> >> 2. Boot to the 'live CD' option.
> >> 3. Mount the root fs somewhere.
> >> 4. chroot into it.
> >> 5. `passwd`
> >>
> >> It's *possible* but not likely that the live CD will also want a
> password,
> >> in which case you can choose 'shell' instead of 'live CD'.
> >>
> >> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:21:11AM -0400, Mathew Snyder wrote:
> >>> We have a single FreeBSD server installed by a vendor. They have let it
> >> sit
> >>> idle for who knows how long before coming around for a full
> >> configuration.
> >>> In that time, their default admin account has expired and no one kept
> >> track
> >>> of the root password. Now it needs to be reset.
> >>>
> >>> Unfortunately, they configured single-user mode to require said root
> >>> password. This is quite a hinderance, naturally. I'm not familiar with
> >> the
> >>> BSDs. Can someone point me in the direction of instructions for
> reseting
> >> a
> >>> password with boot media or something. Everything I've found online so
> >> far
> >>> assumes no password for single-user mode.
> >>>
> >>> -Mathew
> >>>
> >>> "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at
> >>> all." - God; Futurama
> >>>
> >>> "We'll get along much better once you accept that you're wrong and
> >> neither
> >>> am I." - Me
> >>
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> >>> bblisa at bblisa.org
> >>> http://www.bblisa.org/mailman/listinfo/bblisa
> >>
> >>
> >>
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