Reset the root password on a linux box Intro The following steps were used to successfully reset the root password of a "Fedora 10" machine. In general, can be applied to any linux machine. GRUB While booting, after the initial splash and POST screen of the bios, the control transfers to GRUB. If there is just one linux operating system installed, the GRUB screen is bypassed to the booting screen, in that case just keep on pressing or tapping the ESC Button until you see the GRUB Menu. Edit Choose the OS you want to boot into and press "e" to edit. Edit Find the line that corresponds to kernel , and again press "e". Add the following line to the end of the line. single init=/bin/bash Then press enter, and then "b" to boot the OS. After booting you will get a root shell. Mounting the filesystem in readwrite mode : Type in the following command to remount the filesystem in read write mode. mount -o remount,rw / Not doing this ...