>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

Actually that _shouldn't_ work, since the master.passwd file isn't used for
password lookups. What is used is pwd.db, a binary database formed from
master.passwd. You should boot into single-user mode, do a vipw, delete the
encrypted password & then exit to multi-user mode.

Mike
Bikers don't *DO* taglines.