HOWTO: Recover lost root password

In order to recover your root password, you must boot FreeBSD in single user mode, mount the filesystems read/write and issue the passwd command. The passwd command will not actually recover your root password, but will allow you to change it to something new.


[Boot in single user mode]

As the operating system is starting, it will display the following message:

Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt.

Booting [kernel] in 10 seconds...

You should now press the space bar, and you will see the following message:

Type '?' for a list of commands, or 'help' for more detailed help.

ok

Now type boot -s and press the enter key to start FreeBSD in single user mode. After the system boots, you should see the statement:

Enter full pathname of shell or RETURN for /bin/sh:

Press the enter key and you will have a # prompt.

At the command prompt, issue the mount command. This command will mount all the filesystems listed in your /etc/fstab file.

# mount -t ufs -a

Issue the passwd command and you will be prompted to enter a new password for the root account.

# passwd

New password:_
Retype new password:_
passwd: updating the database...
passwd: done

# exit

There is no need to reboot the operating system to go to multi-user mode. The exit command will cause the system to return to multi-user mode without a reboot.

man passwd
man mount
man exit

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