How I Recovered My Root Password in Debian Etch

Debian Etch wouldn't let me into single user mode without the root password. I booted from the Debian CD and tried the rescue mode... didn't quite understand how to do it. So I had to take an alternate route.

I understand that it is not the safest method, but it works. I booted into Ubuntu on my machine (I have Debian and Ubuntu running on the same machine; you can use a live CD instead) and modified passwd and shadow files on the root partition of Debian. Here are the steps.

1. Boot into Ubuntu (or any other Linux) on the machine.
   
   
2. Become super-user.

   su
   

   password: top-secret

3. Create a mount point.

   mkdir /mnt/deb

4. Mount the Debian root partition.
   
   mount /dev/hdXY /mnt/deb #X and Y identify the Debian root partition.
   
   
5. Open passwd and shadow files with an editor.

   gedit /mnt/deb/etc/passwd /mnt/deb/etc/shadow
   

6. Delete the password field for root in /etc/passwd (delete the x in second field)and comment out the root line in /etc/shadow (add a # at the start of the root record).
   
   
7. Now save the two files and reboot into Debian.
   
   
8. Hit Ctrl+Alt+F1 for the first terminal.
   
   
9. Enter root at the login prompt. You will be greeted by a root prompt (#). Type passwd and create a new password for root. Now, return to GUI by hitting Ctrl+Alt+F7.
   
   
10. But this method leaves encrypted password in the world readable passwd file. So, I cut-and-pasted the second field in /etc/passwd over the same field in /etc/shadow; and then restored x back to its place in the passwd file.

It just worked.

Defining Muralidhar

The one qualification you need to live in this world is the ability to love.

-Muralidhar Kamidi, circa 1997

And I love! That is the philosophy that drives my life. I love life, I love people, I love the cosmos... and I love everything! I just love to savor every moment of this existence in its fullness and glory.


I believe that there is more to this life than what is tangible; and I believe that there is something beyond the temporal; I believe that time blends into eternity and that the mortal puts on immortality -- that space-time is not the limit of our being. I believe, and therefore I AM! And 'm not speaking of some mystic mythology, this is something that can be experienced here, and right now! Yes, in love!


Love! That's what transcends the celestial ephemerality, takes us beyond the "narrow and domestic walls", and pours into our hearts joy-sublime-- an experience so rich and glorious that words fail to describe it, why, minds fail even to assimilate it, let alone the thought of imagining such splendor.


I know I didn't quite define Muralidhar as promised, but I am what I AM!. Expression can never substitute the expressed, object and its perception are not the same. You have to become me to know me-- and that's the only way! That said, this is the best that words can do to tell you who I am.

My Personal Mission Statement

I will be faithful to myself, sincerely and wholeheartedly in adhering to the following principles:

GOAL IN LIFE

I will spend my time working for a preset goal. I will work towards it slowly and steadily without being distracted.

FAITH IN LIFE

I will exercise the ability to choose my response consciously, creatively and independently with self-integrity and faith in God. I will understand, believe and remember that truth, honesty, love and righteousness will triumph in the end.

SCOPE OF LIFE

I would not waste time in egotistic-talk and daydreaming. Instead I will work towards developing new proficiencies and nourishing the existing ones.

MEANING OF LIFE

I will help the poor and the needy. I will not be proud, but will learn to be humble and thank God for giving me the opportunity.

STATE OF LIFE

I will keep myself healthy: spiritually, mentally, physically and socially. I will avoid polluting-elements from corrupting my mind, soul, body and relationships.

RESPECT FOR LIFE

I will do to people what I want them to do to me. I will respect their worth and remember their kindness with gratitude. I will cultivate team spirit. I will trust others and will work with them in a mutually enriching and synergistic environment. I will develop a healthy sense of humor, live a happy life and make others' lives happier.

FUEL FOR LIFE

I will pray God for mercy, peace, hope, health, love, wisdom, strength and joy; and I will thank Him for all things I receive. I will empty impure, malevolent and defeatist thoughts from my mind and fill pure, benevolent and progressive ideas in their place.

K. Muralidhar

What is Love?

Some see it as a feverish sense of longing and belonging; to some it's an overpowering force of possessiveness. For many it's an inexplicable, uncontrollable wave of energy... it's fear, it's dear, it's fragile but real!

Love is perhaps a twin of entropy: too elusive to perceive, too random to organize, too evasive to escape, and too mythical to realize; too diverse to define and too complex to comprehend. Its pain... it's more than pain. It's larger than life and still a part of life; it's the all pervasive ether. It's everything in the world and still something more. It's the fuel that drives this world.

Love... to me... is living with a purpose (to love is to to serve a cause). It is the ability to do anything and everything for the right-being, complete-being, progress and prosperity of the "object of Love" (which turns out to be a collective self- an inseparable union of and the lover the beloved).

It is a perception of a universal wholeness. It's a paradigm-shift where thought and action merge into one. It is the realization that there is only one wholeness... and that "I", "YOU", and "HE" are mere perceptions of the self-same wholeness. That reality is an indistinguishable conglomerate of first, second and third person identities.