Very Computer

Help!

We have a SPARCserver 20 running Solaris 2.4 here. Since yesterday,
nobody can login to it anymore, even root user. When any  user log in,
(either from the console, rlogin or telnet), and input the correct
password, the system will authorize  login process, then display an
error message as No Shell, and logout the user automatically.  I have
tried to boot machine into single user mode but still couldn't get in
the system. The system told me,   su: No Shell     at this time.

Does anyone know what is wrong and how to fix it? My basic guess is that
the file system or the hard drive has a problem, which makes the shell
not available anymore. If it is, can I reinstall the shell without
damaging the data in the hard driver? How?

Any help would be appreciated.

Wei Yang

Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore

: Help!

: We have a SPARCserver 20 running Solaris 2.4 here. Since yesterday,
: nobody can login to it anymore, even root user. When any  user log in,
: (either from the console, rlogin or telnet), and input the correct
: password, the system will authorize  login process, then display an
: error message as No Shell, and logout the user automatically.  I have
: tried to boot machine into single user mode but still couldn't get in
: the system. The system told me,   su: No Shell     at this time.

: Does anyone know what is wrong and how to fix it? My basic guess is that
: the file system or the hard drive has a problem, which makes the shell
: not available anymore. If it is, can I reinstall the shell without
: damaging the data in the hard driver? How?

: Any help would be appreciated.

: Wei Yang

: Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore

It is much more likely that someone messed up your /etc/password file.
Boot from a Solaris install CD-ROM (I think the command is: boot -s cdrom),
mount your disk root partition to /mnt and look at /mnt/etc/password for
problems.
--
CUL8R,                             |  Lord Arthur: "Are all men from the future
Jason Shumate                      |     loud-mouthed braggarts?"
System Administrator type guy      |  Ash: "Nope.  Just me, baby.  Just me."

The rest is right, but you may want to fsck your boot partition before
mounting it.
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** Dave Annis         | With age comes wisdom, if you **
** Sheboygan, WI      |   stay awake along the way!   **
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