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Operating Systems Linux Red Hat Root shell in /etc/passwd is corrupted Post 302391478 by aixlover on Monday 1st of February 2010 12:56:21 PM
Old 02-01-2010
Root shell in /etc/passwd is corrupted

I accidentally changed root shell from /bin/bash to bash in /etc/password, then logged out from root. Now I can't login as root and got "No shell" error, although I have root password. "su -f -s /bin/bash" command does NOT work. There is no GUI interface for this system.

My question: Do I have to reboot the system to single user mode to fix the problem?

Thank you in advance!

Last edited by aixlover; 02-01-2010 at 02:09 PM..
 

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CHSH(1)                                                            User Commands                                                           CHSH(1)

NAME
chsh - change login shell SYNOPSIS
chsh [options] [LOGIN] DESCRIPTION
The chsh command changes the user login shell. This determines the name of the user's initial login command. A normal user may only change the login shell for her own account; the superuser may change the login shell for any account. OPTIONS
The options which apply to the chsh command are: -h, --help Display help message and exit. -R, --root CHROOT_DIR Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration files from the CHROOT_DIR directory. -s, --shell SHELL The name of the user's new login shell. Setting this field to blank causes the system to select the default login shell. If the -s option is not selected, chsh operates in an interactive fashion, prompting the user with the current login shell. Enter the new value to change the shell, or leave the line blank to use the current one. The current shell is displayed between a pair of [ ] marks. NOTE
The only restriction placed on the login shell is that the command name must be listed in /etc/shells, unless the invoker is the superuser, and then any value may be added. An account with a restricted login shell may not change her login shell. For this reason, placing /bin/rsh in /etc/shells is discouraged since accidentally changing to a restricted shell would prevent the user from ever changing her login shell back to its original value. FILES
/etc/passwd User account information. /etc/shells List of valid login shells. /etc/login.defs Shadow password suite configuration. SEE ALSO
chfn(1), login.defs(5), passwd(5). shadow-utils 4.5 01/25/2018 CHSH(1)
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