Resetting Lost Root Password

QNX USERS QNX6 - OS
1

Greetings,

I’ve inherited a Qnx 6.1 machine that needs to have it’s
root password reset.

I have the 6.1 boot CD, can anyone please point me to a
doc that discusses how to reset the password. I’m used to
Solaris, boot from CD, mount / partition, edit /etc/passwd.

How is this done in QNX?

Thanks to everyone.

Troy

2

openqnx.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t6169-.html
or
openqnx.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t5848-.html

good luck !
HELGE

3

if you do not like waiting for posts, you may as well use the “search”.
in your case, do not use the “search” link from :
Home . Submit News . QNX Forums . QNX Download . Search
in the top welcome section,
but do use the link underneath, and next to FAQ .

regards HELGE

4

Thanks HELGE,

I did attempt to search the forum, and did come across both
of the links you supplied (thanks again). The second wasn’t
very helpfull, but the first one was. But when I opened the
first and quickly glanced at the start, I mistakenly assumed
the person didn’t know what the default root password
(blank) was after installation/booting from the CD.

Troy

5

so, at the end, you were lucky then.good to read.
my pointing to “search” did not mean to blame you for a mistake, just i know that the second button gives different results, and some people won’t give it a try.
good night, HELGE

6

Thanks for bringing up this Search issue.

The top “search” should search everything including the forum, and the second “search” should only search the forum. So the first should be the superset of the second. Unfortunately, during the last system upgrade, we missed something and the first “search” wouldn’t search the forum posts anymore.

We’ve just fixed it.

7

Resetting the root password is very simple.

  1. Boot from CD or floppy
  2. mount the partition (If not already mounted as /fs)
    3.Edit the /etc/passwd file
    delete the “x” between the first two colons in the line starting with “root”
    The line should look like:
    root::Superuser:/root:/bin/ksh
    4.Save the /etc/passwd and reboot from disk.
    You may now login with root and no password.
    5.Enable new password with the passwd utility.