On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, David Linker wrote:

> Is there a simple way out? I looked with the mini-shell in the installer,
> and saw a file /etc/passwd which looks like a good candidate for the
> location, but in the mini shell I can only replace a file or delete it, not
> edit. Also there are other "users" listed, including toor.

from the installer, copy out the /etc/master.passwd file to MacOS.  Edit
the file and remove the encrypted root password.  Ie, there is a line
like:

root:EncryptedPasswordIsHere:0:0::0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh

Make it look like

root::0:0::0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh

now use the installer to copy it back in.  You now have no root password
so you should add one after rebooting and logging in.

Be sure that the permissions are set right after this operation.

ls -l /etc/master.passwd 
-rw-------  1 root  wheel  1011 Aug 10 20:07 /etc/master.passwd


if not, 

chmod 600 /etc/master.passwd


-Dan