Changed root passwd and now the new root passwd is wrong?

ouroboros · posted: 2011-10-23 22:33

I changed the root password using Control Center -> System -> Manage Users application.

Now when I try to authorize anything as root or log in as root, the password is wrong and it will not authorize. __{{emoticon}}__

This is the second time I have had this problem, and it is only when I change the password to something specific that contains a mixture of letters, numbers, and symbols. Other passwords I changed to worked, and they also contain letters, numbers and symbols. It is just this one specific password that seems to cause a problem. __{{emoticon}}__

I set the keyboard localization appropriately and the application displayed my password as I inputted it anyway, so I am 100% that it was correct.

Is this a bug in the application? Any help or feedback would be appreciated.

Dave · posted: 2011-10-23 23:20

The application simply records your username and password in a temporary file, this file is used as an input file for passwd command. So after it collects this information EG: USERNAME:root PASSWORD1:123@ABC PASSWORD2:123@ABC it executes passwd root, then enters the two passwords. To test if the application is at fault in some manner open terminal as root, type: passwd root, enter your"faulty" password and continue. If there are errors please post them.

ouroboros · posted: 2011-10-24 00:10

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I typed $ passwd root at the terminal, and it outputs "You may not view or modify password information for root."

When I $ su, the password is now wrong for root account, even though I am typing what I changed it to, like I said.

I have since booted antiX from a USB flashdrive, and I have found out that the problem is not in the password, because it changes fine and works when I use the following method:

Code: Select all

$ su
[... enter default root password ...]
# passwd
[... change to new password, the one I was having problems with...]
# exit
$ su
[... enter new password ...]
# 
[ Voila, It works. ]

So, on the basis that the password changes and works fine after changing it using passwd command in the terminal, I conclude that there is a problem with the way the Manage Users application changed the password, maybe the way it temporarily stores it like you said? It could be interpreting some of the symbols as code/commands or something as it is reading/writing to/from a temp file?

buttcoffee · posted: 2011-10-24 07:25

I was under the impression to change the root password, you had to do it with a live cd like in this link.
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-reset-a-forgotten-root-password-with-knoppix-p2"
linktext was:"http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-reset- ... knoppix-p2"
====================================