Arch Linux root password

[Zaur]

I have a SL-C3200 with Arch Linux. I can logon to a user account but I don't have the root passsword. Is there a way to reset the root password? I can't see a Grub menu to allow me to use one of the common methods to do so. Thanks

[Varti]

Hi and welcome!

The default root's password is root. You can change it after logging in using

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sudo passwd root
There's no Grub on Alarmz; kexecboot is used as a boot loader instead, but it doesn't have a recovery mode like Grub.

Varti

[Zaur]

Thanks, Varti. I should have been clearer in my original post. Unfortunately the password is not the default one (root), which is why I can't access root. Without a recovery mode, I'm not sure what else I can do.

[Varti]

I see... Is this on a freshly installed Arch Linux? AFAIK the default root password has always been root, at least on the latest two Zaurus releases, but it might have been different on older releases, greguu (Alarmz's maintainer) might shed a light on this.

I'm not aware of any way of recovering/changing the root password on Alarmz, so the only solution would be to reinstall it from scratch.

Varti

[Zaur]

Thanks, Varti. It's not a fresh install but an inherited piece of equipment. At some point the root password must have been changed. It looks like I'll have to reinstall Alarmz. I was trying to avoid that but you've confirmed what I thought was the case. I'm not familiar with Alarmz but it will be interesting to learn its unique attributes.

[Varti]

Actually, it might be possible to change it by following these instructions:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/reset_root_password

On the Zaurus, you can append the

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init=/bin/bashpart in the boot/boot.cfg file, at the end of the APPEND label. I have tried it on my SL-C1000, by plugging the SD card where Alarmz is installed on my laptop and modifying the file there. I have put the SD back in my Zaurus and it has directly booted bash, skipping the rest of the boot procedure. Unfortunately I have not managed to remount the partition as read/write, since a wrong keymap was loaded and I wasn't able to type the / character.
In your case I believe that Arch Linux is installed on your internal Microdrive, so you'll need to first install Alarmz on an SD card, boot it via kexecboot, mount the root filesystem on the Microdrive (it should be /dev/sda1), modify the boot/boot.cfg file there as explained above and reboot, this time booting the system from the Microdrive.

Varti

[Zaur]

Many thanks, Varti. I'll take a look later and let you know.  

[greguu]

Many thanks, Varti. I'll take a look later and let you know.  

Zaur, all default rootfs released here come with the default password "root". If it was changed and you inherited the device I would reinstall from scratch as a good practice. If you do not want to reinstall, just boot from a SD card using the current rootfs (follow the guide https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=34421) and then "chroot" to the internal CF card and do a "passwd". You will find help on the ArchLinux wiki on how to chroot. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/change_root