Peter's Blog

I’m using VMWare Workstation a lot to virtualize my testing environments. Along with many other OSs that I’m using there are Linux systems and one of the most useful functionality in Linux are (in my opinion) virtual terminals. Virtual terminal is like your another monitor, so when doing many things you can avoid mess by using few “desktops” instead of one. In Linux you’re creating and switching between terminals by pressing CTRL+ALT+F1-12. Problem with VMWare is that CTRL+ALT has special meaning there, so pressing mentioned combination does nothing. Instead you can use workaround, first press CTRL+ALT+SPACE, then release SPACE and press F1-12 button.

Today I’ve faced embarrassing situation, I’ve forgot my root password to my Debian VM. I know this is lame. But happened, so I’ve started looking for solution and after viewing few more or less helpful websites I’ve compiled my own solution. To reset root password on Debian (Lenny) do following:
1. During start of PC when there is your boot manager displayed press “e”.
2. Move arrow on the keyboard to highlight “kernel”.
3. Press “e” again.
4. On the displayed line change “ro” to “rw” and add “init=/bin/bash” at the end. Without quotation marks of course.
5. Press Enter and then “b” to boot your Debian.
6. Debian would boot to bash console with root privileges. Now execute “passwd” command and input your new password.
7. Reboot your system.

That’s it. Your root account is now back. Enjoy!