Booting and Shutting Down Oracle^® Solaris 11.3 Systems

How to Boot to a Single-User State to Resolve a Bad root Shell or Password Problem

1. Assume the root role.

   See Using Your Assigned Administrative Rights in Securing Users and Processes in Oracle Solaris 11.3.

2. Depending on the platform, do one of the following:
   • For SPARC platforms:
     1. Bring the system to the ok PROM prompt.

        # init 0

     2. Boot the system to a single-user state.

        ok boot -s

   • For x86 platforms:
     1. Reboot a running system with the –p option of the reboot command.

        # reboot -p

     2. When the GRUB menu is displayed, select the appropriate boot entry, then type e to edit that entry.
     3. Using the arrow keys, navigate to the $multiboot line, then type –s at the end of the line.
   • To exit the GRUB edit menu and boot the entry you just edited, press Control-X. If you have a system with UEFI firmware, and you are not using a serial console, pressing F10 also boots the entry.
3. Correct the shell entry in the /etc/passwd file.

   # vi /etc/password

4. Reboot the system.