unknown user: root

Marian POPESCU softexpert at libertysurf.fr
Tue May 9 15:22:55 UTC 2006


Hello all,

I am struggling here with the most weird thing to date (for me).
These are the facts:
I cannot log into my FC5 box.
While booting I get lots of error messages: "unknown user: root";
starting rescue mode from CD and chrooting the old system behaves strangely: 
- I start mc and I try to modiy any text file - when i press a key it
will crash instantly.
 - whoamy responds "cannot find name for user ID 0"
 - passwd responds "Can not identify you!"

My checks:
 - I verified the file system - seems OK;
 - I compared shadow with shadow- = 7 bytes difference
 - I compared groups with groups- = OK
 - I compared passwd with passwd- = OK


All this started after rebooting the system ; I was just finished the update
process - installed kernel kernel-2.6.16-1.2111_FC5, installed the latest
updates as of 2006-05-09 10:45 AM.

Can someone explain to me what could be wrong with this system?

I would prefer to repair the system instead of completely reinstall it (lots
of settings to remember).

Thank you in advance!

marian




More information about the fedora-list mailing list