Reset root password in SLES

To reset the root password we need to enter into single user mode. Entering into single user mode in SuSe Enterprise Linux is different compare to Red Hat Linux.

Following is the procedure to reset root password and entering into single user mode into SLES.

For SLES 11.x:

Go to the boot loader screen, type below command in the boot instruction option:

init=/bin/bash

Press enter to boot. This will boot the "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.x" in the single user mode. In this mode there is no file system which is mounted, so we will use mount command to remount the file system in read & write mode.

(none):/#mount -o remount,rw /

(none):/#mount -r remount,rw /usr  (if the /usr file system is on the separate partition)

Now try to run commands like resetting the root password.

(none):/#passwd root

To reboot the machine type "exit" two times.