[Techtalk] Unknown root password

[Wim De Smet]

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 11:01 PM, David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk> wrote:
>[...]
> If I boot Knoppix and log in as root, then presumably I can view all the
> files on the hard drive.  But how can I reset root's password for the
> installed system?
>

Try if sudo works first, but if not what I do is edit /etc/shadow and
just remove whatever is in the password bit for root, then log in with
an empty password. Make sure you get the shadow file from the hard
disk, not the one knoppix will likely also have. :-)

greets,
Wim