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dandan
Asked: 2016-04-14 03:11:55 +0800 CST

linux + when change passwd we get permission denied

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We have installed Redhat Linux 6.5 from scratch the VIA kick start installation and booted into single user mode because I don't have the root password.

But when I perform the following:

passwd root
changing password for user root
passwd: permission denied

Please advice what are the reasons that I get permission denied and how to resolve the problem.

linux redhat password permissions root

2 Answers

  1. you are in single user mode so you don't specify users

    make sure your root filesystem is mounted in read/write

    mount -o remount,rw /

    then

    passwd
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  2. this feels like an selinux issue with the files related to passwd. If something has changed the passwd files when selinux was not active it can have the wrong labels and selinux will deny access to the file. (You can probably confirm if selinux is on by examining the kickstart file)

    Follow the instructions from here to boot into rescue mode.

    After you gain access to the rescue enviroment perform the following instructions to force selinux to relabel the filesystem at next boot

    # mount -o remount,rw /mnt/sysimage
# chroot /mnt/sysimage
# touch /.autorelabel
# reboot

    Another approach: If you can boot into single user mode u can check if selinux is running. 

    # getenforce

    this will can either say enforcing, permissive or disabled. You can then decide to disable it while you repair the damage. If you need to turn it off follow these instructions

    vi /etc/sysconfig/selinux

    Look for the line that says SELINUX=ENFORCING and replace ENFORCING with DISABLED. After that save/exit the file and reboot. If selinux was the culprit you should be able to login like normal.

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