Reset Forgotton "root" password - Linux

Press e on your keyboard when you see this screen:

grub0.png

If you've done this correctly, you should see a screen similar to this one:

grub1.png

Use your arrow keys to move to the Linux16 line:

grub2.png

Using your del key or your backspace key, remove rhgb quiet and replace with the following:

rd.break enforcing=0

grub3.png

Setting enforcing=0 will allow you to avoid performing a complete system SELinux relabeling. Once the system is rebooted, you'll only have to restore the correct SELinux context for the /etc/shadow file. I'll show you how to do this too.

Press Ctrl-x to start.

The system will now be in emergency mode.

Remount the hard drive with read-write access:

# mount –o remount,rw /sysroot

Run chroot to access the system:

# chroot /sysroot

You can now change the root password:

# passwd

Type the new root password twice when prompted. If you are successful, you should see a message that reads "all authentication tokens updated successfully."

Type exit twice to reboot the system.

Log in as root and restore the SELinux label to the /etc/shadow file.

# restorecon -v /etc/shadow

Turn SELinux back to enforcing mode:

# setenforce 1