Solaris

i booted into maintenance mode

Code:

boot -- -s

from the console
I got the

Code:

Root password for system maintenance (control-d to bypass)

I did control -d
and then logged in

it told me that I was booting into boot -s
but after I did a control -d and logged in

who -r shows

Code:

run-level 3  Nov 17 14:07     3      0  S

does the S mean single user mode?
I expected run-lever to be S not 3?

thanks

control-d bypasses the maintenance mode and boots to multi-user mode i.e. run-level 3.
You must enter the root password to enter the maintenance mode!

ok makes sense, thanks, but didn't have root pw.

---------- Post updated at 03:16 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:12 PM ----------

how can I delete my new question? I thought this one may have not worked because of the infraction. so I asked another one in the beginner section.
Thanks

There's no need to delete the other question, it stands in its own right, I think.

(and it wasn't an "infraction", only a gentle reminder to use code tags )

Why don't you tell us why you are attempting to boot into maintenance mode? You don't have the root password? So why are you doing this? Are you the sysadmin or not?

If you give us more information we might be able to give you more direct help.

yes sysad, but only have a role as root. have to su - user with role , can not su - directly , so when in the Ilom if it asks for
Root password for system maintenance (control -d to bypass) , I don't have root so my only option is to control -d.
but when I do that I am In the run level 3.
I can get a console login,

Code:

su - role

but I don't want to patch in run level 3. that could be bad.

Allowing a random user to login to your system with root privileges without knowing the root password could also be bad. There is frequently a trade-off between safe versus secure. This is one of those cases. A system administrator responsible for taking care of a system when it is broken should always have the password(s) and access to the system needed to figure out what is going wrong on that system and to fix that system.

If you can bring up the system multi-user, login as you, su to the root role, and bring the system down to single-user mode without loging out, that might provide you with a safe environment for diagnosing and fixing your problems. If you can't do that, there isn't much we can do to help you.