How to Troubleshoot Your Login

Troubleshooting login issues requires you to gain access to the system by booting in single-user mode, so you can troubleshoot the nature of problem and apply the appropriate solution. This procedure includes the steps for booting a system in single-user mode, as well as solutions to the some of the more common login problems.

1. Boot the system in single-user mode.
   1. When the boot sequence starts, and the GRUB menu is displayed, type e to edit the GRUB menu entries.
   2. Using the up or down arrow keys, select the kernel$ line, then type e to edit that entry.
   3. Type an -s after the kernel$ entry.
   4. Press Return (or Enter) to go back to the previous screen.
   5. To boot the system in single-user mode, type b.
2. When prompted, type a user account name.

   The account name can be root, or any other privileged account, such as jack on the live CD ISO image, or an account that you created during the installation.

3. Type the root password.

   After the system has booted, depending on your particular situation, you can do any of the following:

   • Display the existing user accounts and roles:

     -bash-3.2#  cat /etc/user_attr

   • Delete a user account:

     -bash-3.2# userdel username

   • Create a new user account:

     -bash-3.2# useradd username

     1. Assign a password for the user name.

        -bash-3.2# passwd username

        ---

        Note - You will need to type the password twice.

        ---

     2. Assign the root role to that user.

        -bash-3.2# usermod -R root username

4. To return to the installed system, type exit.