Thank you! I've googled a ton and didn't come up with this, so your directions are helpful.
I am wondering, though, how something like this happens. Also, it's a Ubuntu machine (10.04) -- is there a root password? The only password I ever created was my own when I installed. I assumed there was no root password. Thanks again. ~kari On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 4:33 PM, Jeremiah Bess <[email protected]>wrote: > Don't be afraid, it's really easy to fix this. It will require a reboot, > but unless you already have data corruption, you won't lose anything. I am > assuming you do not have the password for root. If you do, ignore this, and > login as root. > > Boot to a LiveCD, and mount the hard drive. Open the /etc/shadow file, and > find an root account. The first field (fields are separated by a colon) is > the username, root. The second is the encrypted password for that account. > Delete the password portion (leave the colons). Save the file, and reboot > back to the hard drive. Now the password will be blank for the root account. > Now that you are in, edit the /etc/sudoers file with the visudo command. > > Jeremiah E. Bess > Network Ninja, Penguin Geek, Father of four > > > On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 15:27, Kari Matthews <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I am admin'ing a file server that has an odd problem. >> >> I am the admin account on the server and have all admin privileges ... >> except that now it says I'm not on the list of sudoers. There are a few >> other accounts on the server, but no one remembers the passwords I gave >> them. >> >> What can I do to administer this machine now? How can I add myself back >> to the list of sudoers if I can't sudo to get to anything? >> >> How do I get the data off of here and keep it intact? >> >> I am scared to reboot the machine for fear that they will somehow manage >> to not have access. >> >> Ideas? >> >> ~kari >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users >> Group. >> To post a message, send email to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe, send email to >> [email protected] >> For more options, visit our group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users > Group. > To post a message, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] > For more options, visit our group at > http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users Group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit our group at http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup
