Re: Problem: Just bought a Sparc 10 but don't have root password. How do I install Debian or BSD or ?

"Frank-Christian Kruegel" <> wrote
>
> The BSDs have suitable boot floppies, which make your life much easier.
>

I'm another newbie who just bought a Sun Ultra 1 200mhz/128meg, Sun OS 5.7.
I have the same problem, can't get past the password stage. I understand I
can do that if I boot from a CD, which I'd have to buy on Ebay.

Would it be possible to download this boot floppy and make a boot disk with
a PC, and then use that boot floppy to get access the hard disk and make the
necessary changes? I understand I need to change or delete the encrypted
password file, or something.

I'm familiar with DOS, and I have "Unix in a Nutshell" for System V and
Solaris 2.0. I used to have a Linux shell only internet acct, so I've done
a small amount of command line work.
Other than that, I'm totally unfamiliar with Solaris. Heh heh... I need to
get past this password to learn more.
-Paul

Paul Grammens wrote:
> "Frank-Christian Kruegel" <> wrote
>
>>The BSDs have suitable boot floppies, which make your life much easier.
>>
>
>
> I'm another newbie who just bought a Sun Ultra 1 200mhz/128meg, Sun OS 5.7.
> I have the same problem, can't get past the password stage. I understand I
> can do that if I boot from a CD, which I'd have to buy on Ebay.

This works because you actually boot a unix image from that CD that
has a file system, and a built-in mount point of /a
You can then mount the devices from the real root drive on that
mount point to manipulate files such as /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow
or /etc/vfstab.

>
> Would it be possible to download this boot floppy and make a boot disk with
> a PC, and then use that boot floppy to get access the hard disk and make the
> necessary changes? I understand I need to change or delete the encrypted
> password file, or something.

You would need an application on a PC that can create a Sun boot
image that the open boot prom would recognize. This image would
then need to also provide tools that allow you to mount the
actual root disk as something another tool could edit. Yes you
could do it and it would be a good learning exercise in how
your system actually boots and the differences between a unix
type cd-rom and a pc type cd-rom.

>
> I'm familiar with DOS, and I have "Unix in a Nutshell" for System V and
> Solaris 2.0. I used to have a Linux shell only internet acct, so I've done
> a small amount of command line work.
> Other than that, I'm totally unfamiliar with Solaris. Heh heh... I need to
> get past this password to learn more.

Buy the CD.

> -Paul
>
>

"Lon Stowell" <> wrote
>
> Buy the CD.
>

LOL! OK, a couple come up on Ebay tomorrow.
Thanks for the advice.
-Paul

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 10:03:36 -0700, Paul Grammens wrote:

>
> "Frank-Christian Kruegel" <> wrote
>>
>> The BSDs have suitable boot floppies, which make your life much easier.
>>
>
> I'm another newbie who just bought a Sun Ultra 1 200mhz/128meg, Sun OS 5.7.
> I have the same problem, can't get past the password stage. I understand I
> can do that if I boot from a CD, which I'd have to buy on Ebay.
>
> Would it be possible to download this boot floppy and make a boot disk with
> a PC, and then use that boot floppy to get access the hard disk and make the
> necessary changes? I understand I need to change or delete the encrypted
> password file, or something.

Unless you have a reason not to I would re-install the OS. Who knows what
state the current installation is in.

Josh

In article <>,
Paul Grammens <> wrote:
>
>"Lon Stowell" <> wrote
>>
>> Buy the CD.
>>
>
>LOL! OK, a couple come up on Ebay tomorrow.
>Thanks for the advice.

You might want to hold off on buying CD's off of eBay. Some of the sellers
on there simply get the "free" media kits from Sun and resell them on eBay.
You can skip the middle man and go directly to Sun for media or download.

-tom

--

"You can only be -so- accurate with a claw-hammer." --me