In this hands-on project, you use System Rescue to check your root filesystem for errors...

In this hands-on project, you use System Rescue to check your root filesystem for errors and to change the root user’s password.

1. Switch to a command-line terminal (tty2) by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 and log in to the terminal using the user name of root and the password of secret.

2. Place your Fedora 13 DVD in your DVD drive, type reboot at the command prompt, and press Enter to reboot your computer. If DVD does not come before hard disk in your BIOS boot order, open the boot menu and select your DVD device to ensure that your system boots from your Fedora 13 DVD.

3. At the Fedora installation welcome screen, select Rescue installed system and press Enter.

4. Select OK to choose the English language.

5. Select OK to choose the US keyboard type.

6. Select No to prevent System Rescue from configuring the network interfaces on your system.

7. Select Continue to mount the / (root) filesystem on your hard disk to the /mnt/ sysimage directory in RAM. When you see a message indicating that the mount operation was successful, select OK.

8. At the First Aid Kit quickstart menu, select fakd and press Enter. Were any errors detected on your system?

9. At the First Aid Kit quickstart menu, select shell to obtain a System Rescue BASH shell.

10. At the command prompt, type pwd and press Enter. What directory are you in?

11. At the command prompt, type ls -F and press Enter. Note the contents of the / (root) filesystem in RAM.

12. At the command prompt, type ls –F /mnt/sysimage and press Enter. What files and subdirectories are you viewing?

13. At the command prompt, type umount /mnt/sysimage and press Enter. Next, type fsck –f /dev/sda1 and press Enter to check the / (root) filesystem on your hard disk for errors. Why should you check this filesystem using System Rescue instead of on a system that has booted normally?

14. At the command prompt, type mount /mnt/sysimage and press Enter to remount the / (root) filesystem on your hard disk to the /mnt/sysimage directory.

15. At the command prompt, type chroot /mnt/sysimage and press Enter. Next, type pwd and press Enter. What directory are you in? Type ls –F and press Enter. What files and subdirectories are you viewing and why?

16. At the command prompt, type whoami and press Enter to verify that you are the root user. Next, type passwd and press Enter to change the root user’s password. Type secret when prompted and type secret again to confirm. Were you able to change the root user’s password on the Linux system installed on the hard disk?

17. Type exit and press Enter to log out of your chroot session. Type exit again and press Enter to return to the First Aid Kit quickstart menu.

18. Choose reboot and press Enter to reboot your system, and then remove your DVD from the DVD drive.