lost root access

[Rashkae]

On 2019-01-06 3:35 p.m., Jack McGee wrote:

> 
> but I don't see a Grub menu, just drops to XFCE desktop after bios
> splash.  Holding down shift key.
> 
> How I get root access back?
> 
> 


Your system BIOS might have a "Legacy USB" or "USB Keyboard" option
disabled.  Grub will need that support to work with a USB keyboard.

If you can't get it to work that way, you can use a usb or DVD boot
media to mount your root filesystem and directly edit the
/boot/grub/grub.cfg file... Make you you make a backup of it first.

Find the first 'menuentry' section and append the init=/bin/bash to the
end of the Linux line.

It might be easier/safer from your current position to edit your
/etc/group file instead, and add mythuser to the sudo group;

example:

sudo:x:27:mythuser

Alternatively, if it's your /etc/sudoers file that has become broken,
hopefully to remember what was changed to break it.

Directly modifying system files like this can be dangerous.. (no
explosions or fire, usually, but can make recovery of a working system,
and especially, saving of important data, more difficult.)  If my
suggestions are not easy for you to understand, I would suggest getting
some hands on assistance for this.