(This was a ticket I'd sent to Linode, but I thought I'd post it here to see if you all have encountered this problem before.)


Linode People, I've got a problem.

I decided to change the password to one of the Linux user accounts on my webserver. I did so using the 'passwd' command, of course. I was able to input the old password and the new password (twice) without a problem.

However, whenever I try to "sudo" anything, and it asks for my password, it tells me that I've input the wrong password.

Thinking perhaps that maybe I had mis-typed a character or maybe had CAPS LOCK on or whatever, I tried to "su -" into the root account... And was not able to, even after changing the root password TWICE (and rebooting twice) to make sure that I was using the right root password. (I changed the root password using the "Settings & Utilities" tab you provide, and rebooted each time for it to take effect.)

My server still runs without me having to have root access, but I still would like to update things and do stuff that requires me to input a password. I'm only able to get into the shell at all because I made SSH disallow password authentication.

A while back, I made the following changes to my SSH:
- PermitRootLogin no
- PasswordAuthentication no
- UsePAM no
- AllowUsers sarteck (my account in question)


naturally, without root or superuser access, I can't change any values in my SSH.


I also attempted to log into my Linode via your LISH, but was unable to with either root or my "sarteck" account, with both telling me that I'm giving the wrong password.

I'd like to add some other users to the account, and need root access to do so. Can ya help?




It was suggested to me last time that I seek help for some things with the Linode Community, so I'll also post this message there.

Did you change password of intended user?
Did you try old password?
Can you boot from recovery environment (Finnix) and check your /etc/shadow for any issues?
Can you boot in single user mode or from recovery environment and try to fix your system?

Did you change password of intended user?
Yes

Did you try old password?
About a dozen times XD

Can you boot from recovery environment (Finnix) and check your /etc/shadow for any issues?
I don't know--I'll have to do some Googling on Finnix. Is that something that comes with Linodes...?

Can you boot in single user mode or from recovery environment and try to fix your system?
Well, I don't have physical access to it--this is a Linode we're talking about--so I don't think that I can. Don't I have to have physical access to muck around in GRUB in order to boot to single-user mode?

Linode Staff solved it. :facepalm:

Silly me, I was thinking that if I changed the root password while the linode was running that it would take effect after I rebooted it. Apparently, that's not the case--I have to change the password while it's off. XP

So i turned it off, changed the root password, and was able to su to root, and from there was able to do as I needed (changing password on the sarteck account to one that works).

Thanks anyways, guys!

You are welcome - just to clarify for other potential readers:

You can set Linode to boot in single user mode in your Linode Configuration Profile (run level).

Finnix Recovery LiveCD is provided by Linode (you could of course use any distribution but Finnix doesn't have to be deployed and doesn't occupy any space). You can create new configuration profile and set up Finnix (in kernel, device and initrd fields).

Did you change the root password from the Linode web management control panel? If so, yes, your machine needs to be shutdown to do this. The control panel job should fail if the machine is running and tell you on the status reports; you have to read carefully though.

You should be able to change your root password at any time from the running system by running "passwd" (as root) or "sudo passwd root" (as another user with sudo privs).

_________________
Rgds
Stephen
(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)