Locked out from log in due to /nologin mess up

[parsonadams]

Hi all,
Using my phone to send this due to this problem. I am the admin on my little netbook running fedora 17 xfce. I was tinkering with settings and messed up by choosing sbin/bash/nologin under accounts and then logging out. N ow, I can no longer log in (obviously) and can't help but think that I have screwed myself. I have research data on hdd and really can't afford a fresh install that would wipe my data. Then again, it may already be too late. Any assistance would be grand.
Thanks
Jim

[Lazydog]

Grab the install CD and boot with it in RESCUE Mode and mount the systems disk. Then you an editor and edit /etc/passwd file and look for the user, which I am going to assume is root since you say you cannot log in at all, and change the shell to bash. This should allow you to log in then.

If you have root access then you do not have to use the install cd, you can just edit the file.

[parsonadams]

Thanks, Robert. I am having a devil of a time booting into rescue mode. I'll search the forum; however, do you have any advice?
Thanks,
Jim

[parsonadams]

Found my answer.

Jim

[jayd512]

Just for the sake of others who may be facing similar issues, what was your fix?
Was it similar to what Lazydog suggested? Or something else?

[parsonadams]

I booted into single server. As root, I then ran the following:

$ which bash

(output of the above) was /usr/local/bin/bash

$ chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash <<user account name to change>>

done.

I found this at cybercity.biz under Setting bash as default shell.

[Lazydog]

For those looking for a link
Howto: Changing Linux Login Shell

I had totally forgotten about this command, thus the old school way of doing this.