10.2 - New Install: Can't Login

[zalez]

I just completed an install of SUSE 10.2 Gnome and I know see myself at the Login screen that is wanting a username and password. No where during installation did I ever get a chance to enter a username or password. For some reason. during install I had to use the text version of the installer and not the graphical version. Not sure if that had any issues with it. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance!

[AlexK]

probably the simplest thing to do in your case would be to install the yast2firstrun package during the install so that it does the user/graphics/other setup once the install is done.

the other thing you could do if you don't want to reinstall would be to boot into failsafe, login as root and create a new user with these commands:

useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash your_user_name
passwd your_user_name

Edit::
If you haven't gotten a chance to enter the root password during install, you could either try for a reinstall or you could do this:
1. Grab a livecd such as Knoppix
2. Execute following commands to setup root and user password

su -
mount -o rw /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 <--- I am assuming hda1 is your root partition
chroot /mnt/hda1 /bin/bash
passwd <--- allows you to setup root password
useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash your_user_name <-- setting up a user
passwd your_user_name <-- changing that user's password
exit

now reboot into your SUSE install and see if it works.

[zalez]

Thank you for your fast reply.

Does root require a password? Forgive me for being so niave. I have alot to learn about linux.

I would rather not try reinstalling because it took me 4 hrs to do it the first time (which included the time I wanted to throw my burner out the window). But if I must I will.

On a side note: If I were to reinstall, which version is better, KDE or Gnome? and is there a install guide that is pretty easy to follow?

[AlexK]

Yeah, I realized that after posting the message. try suggestions above in edited message.
i.e.
If you haven't gotten a chance to enter the root password during install, you could either try for a reinstall or you could do this:
1. Grab a livecd such as Knoppix
2. Execute following commands to setup root and user password

su - mount -o rw /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 <--- I am assuming hda1 is your root partition 
chroot /mnt/hda1 /bin/bash passwd <--- allows you to setup root password 
useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash your_user_name <-- setting up a user 
passwd your_user_name <-- changing that user's password 
exit

now reboot into your SUSE install and see if it works.

Also if you are not sure which is your linux partition in Knoppix, look at output from this command:

fdisk -l

that is lowercase L and not I or 1.
It will show you all partitions on all disks on your computer. Look for one with a filesystem type of ReiserFS or Linux and replace hda1 in above code snippets with the proper name of the linux partition.

[zalez]

Ok I tried doing the commands above. But when I got to this command:

chroot /mnt/hda1 /bin/bash passwd

I got a "cannot execute binary file" error

Once again I tried reinstalling and still to no avail, not any where was there a place to enter a password of any type. I'm open to any and all suggestions. Also which version of 10.2 is best? KDE or Gnome? Thanks for all the help so far

Edit:
Ok I figured out what I was doing wrong with the above error. But now when I try to change the root password I get the following errors:

Cannot open /dev/urandom for reading: No such file or directory
Cannot create salt for blowfish crypt

And then im told that the password was not changed.

[zalez]

My last thought on this is that if /dev/urandom does not exist, Is there a way to write this directory/file to the disk? I already tried a reinstall and it had the same results.

[gogalthorp]

My last thought on this is that if /dev/urandom does not exist, Is there a way to write this directory/file to the disk? I already tried a reinstall and it had the same results.

No

But you must be root to change any passwords.

In you first post you said "see myself at the Login screen "

So you must have at least entered a user name.

[zalez]

Right now I am using a live cd as Alex has suggested and followed his instructions. That is where I get the error msg about /dev/urandom not existing. My first post I was saying that it seemed like the install went fine, the machine rebooted and came up to a login screen asking for a username and password. During install I was never offered the chance to enter a username or password.

Recap:
First problem is no username was entered nor a root password. So I can't login to 10.2.

Second Problem is when using a live cd to change/set a root password I get the following errors:
Cannot open /dev/urandom for reading: No such file or directory
Cannot create salt for blowfish crypt

I'm hoping that fixing the second problem will then allow me to fix the first problem.

Note: I have already tried reinstalling

[AlexK]

god, im such an idiot... forgot to hit enter in the code which i copied in from my previous post. I am terribly sorry for misposting like that.
Anyways, try this in the live cd:

su -
mount -o rw /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 
chroot /mnt/hda1 /bin/bash
passwd 
useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash your_user_name 
passwd your_user_name
exit

Once again, only if Linux is installed on the first partition of the first hard drive should you use hda1 as in the above examples. To find out which partition Linux is installed, remember to look at the output of this command:

fdisk -l

and replace hda1 accordingly

[zalez]

This is what the results are from fdisk -l :

Disk /dev/hda: 20.0 GB, 20020396032 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2434 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           2        2434    19543072+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5             819         890      578340   82  Linux swap / 
Solaris
/dev/hda6             891        1543     5245191   83  Linux
/dev/hda7            1544        2434     7156926   83  Linux

I have been using /dev/hda6 because that is what I am assuming is my root. With that I have been getting the errors:

Cannot open /dev/urandom for reading: No such file or directory
Cannot create salt for blowfish crypt