[buug] Corrupt root entry in passwd file - Solaris

[Erik Shirokoff]

Sorry if this is a dupe.  Sent this originally from the wrong email addy, so I expect it not to reach the list.


Hi Stefan,

Can you pull out the hard drive and connect it to another machine?

Failing that, is there a partition on the disk which can be adequately backed up without root and onto which you could install a second OS?  

Might be the simplest (if not, perhaps, easiest) solutions.

Good luck,
Erik


On Mon, Jan 03, 2005 at 04:06:32PM -0800, Stefan Lasiewski wrote:
> X-Original-To: shiro at localhost
> Delivered-To: shiro at localhost.localdomain
> X-RocketYMMF: slasiewski
> Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 16:06:32 -0800 (PST)
> From: Stefan Lasiewski <mailinglists at stefanco.com>
> To: buug at weak.org
> Subject: [buug] Corrupt root entry in passwd file - Solaris
> X-BeenThere: buug at weak.org
> X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
> Precedence: list
> Reply-To: mailinglists at stefanco.com
> List-Id: Berkeley Unix User Group <buug.weak.org>
> List-Unsubscribe: <http://www.weak.org/mailman/listinfo/buug>,
> 	<mailto:buug-request at weak.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> List-Archive: <http://weak.org/pipermail/buug>
> List-Post: <mailto:buug at weak.org>
> List-Help: <mailto:buug-request at weak.org?subject=help>
> List-Subscribe: <http://www.weak.org/mailman/listinfo/buug>,
> 	<mailto:buug-request at weak.org?subject=subscribe>
> Errors-To: buug-bounces at weak.org
> 
> Hey gang,
> 
> I have a machine running Solaris 8.
> 
> The top two lines of the /etc/passwd (root and daemon)
> file somehow got wrapped together in one long
> continuous line, like this: 
> 
> root:x:0:1:Root User:/:/usr/bin/ksh
> daemon:x:1:1::/:/sbin/noshell
> 
> (If that line got wrapped, ksh and daemon don't have a
> end-of-line character. Like '.../bin/ksh
> daemon:x:...')
> 
> As a result, I cannot log in as root.
> 
>     % su -
>     su: Unknown id: root
> 
> When I boot into single-user mode or connect via the
> console, I get this [1]:
> 
>     missing or bad passwd entry for <root>
> 
> Any ideas on how I could recover from this? I cannot
> log in as root to edit /etc/passwd, and I cannot find
> any CD-bootable Linuxus which can use a Sparc, or a
> "Bootable Solaris" recovery disk, etc. 
> 
> Am I hosed?
> 
> And then my next problem is to get the the RAID array
> (It's a Sun Enterprise v440) to work on the Bootable
> OS, but that's the next step.
> 
> Thanks all!
> 
> -= Stefan
> 
> [1] Ok, you can stop laughing now :)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Buug mailing list
> Buug at weak.org
> http://www.weak.org/mailman/listinfo/buug