Root account expired ?

I tried to log in as root:

Code:

 $ su
Password:
Your account has expired; please contact your system administrator
su: incorrect password

What do I do ?

 

Root account shouldn't expire like that. I can only recomend reinstalling your OS or contacting your distributor for support.

 

That's fscking wierd. Never seen anyone put an expiry date on a root account.

Which linux distribution do you use? Linux distributions typically have some support forums somewhere. (For instance, for Ubuntu, there are forums at ubuntu.com.) It might be worth doing a search there to see if someone else had the same problem.

 

boot into single user mode, then run passwd.

To boot into single user mode, add a 1 or s (or init=1) to the end of the boot-line

For example, using grub:

kernel /boot/bzImage-2.6.20 root=/dev/hda3 1

Note the "1" on the end of that line. Of course, your kernel image and root may need to be different.

One things have booted, run passwd to change the root password. You should then make sure that the account is set to NOT expire in the future.

 

But does that not require a root password ?

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/grub-boot-into-single-user-mode/

If the root account has expired, will it let me do that ?

The OS is mandriva.

Fortunately a couple of other users have sudo access. One option is to edit the inittab file as sudo and then boot into single user mode and run passwd.

Given sudo access, any direct way of changing the password ? Note that the system has never allowed em to directly log n as root, I always have to log in as a user, and do a "su"

 

It does not hurt to try single user mode.

If other users can sudo and edit the system files, that's another good option. Better than sudo in fact since it does not require rebooting.