i have been given a solaris machine(ultra 5)running solaris version 8. But I dont know the root password and the previous owner of the machine does not remember it. Is there a way to reset the root password

follow the steps : 1. ok boot cdrom -s u will come to the hash prompt. You have to mount the root partition here. so assuming my root partition is at c0t0d0s0 2. mount /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 /a 3. cd /a/etc 4. TERM=vt100 ; export TERM -> to set the terminal 5. vi shadow --> and remove the 13 character encrypted password 5. init 6

Is machine trusted by another? if so get then copy over the passwd and shadow file from that machine to yours and your good to go ex rcp xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/etc/passwd xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx /tmp) then copy on your machine from /tmp to /etc and your good to go . If that does not work do a partil install by booting from cd and then passwd stop restart that also works but dangerous and may wipe out all the info so back uo any data that you need first

Boot to Single user mode: after the boot up stops and you are at the login prompt. Hit- hit the keys "stop" and the letter "a". Then type in: OK>boot disk -s now the machine will boot you into a safe-mode so to speak. after you see the hash mark. Type this in: #passwd root then it will ask for a new password for root. and a second time to verify. Wala, Happy Hacking -Ace

If I don't have the cd at hand, since the OS was preinstalled, is there a way to do it without the CDs? Thanks in advance. PS> Ace, I didn't see any hash mark, it went all the way through to the login screen.