Change root password

[tstone2077]

I like recalbox A LOT, but the fact that I can't change my root password on my own machine is highly disturbing. I am not sure why you would want to mount / as read only, but without me owning root, I can't get behind recalbox.

Is there a way to change the root password?

[Substring]

mount -o remount, rw /
passwd

Should be enough

[tstone2077]

@Substring Awesome! Thanks! I didn't realize you could reset the options on a mounted FS.

[ian57]

Welcome in the world of linux... a real OS !

[unik314r]

All right is there something that has changed in 4.1? I can't change password, despite all my tests (I work in the IT, I hope I'm not that dumb...) :

• 1st try : via ssh
  rw on /
  passwd twice
  reboot (shutdown -r now) --> passwd still recalboxroot

• 2nd try : via F4 and ALT-F2
  rw on /
  passwd
  reboot (shutdown -r now) --> passwd still recalboxroot

• 3rd try: via ssh
  rw on /
  passwd
  logout then ssh (without rebooting) --> new passwd is ok
  reboot (shutdown -r now) --> passwd still recalboxroot

• 4th try: via ssh
  rw on /
  passwd
  logout then ssh (without rebooting) --> new passwd is ok
  reboot (via reboot) --> passwd still recalboxroot

• 5th try: via ssh
  rw on /
  passwd
  logout then ssh (without rebooting) --> new passwd is ok
  reboot (via emulationstation's interface) --> passwd still recalboxroot

Here is my history... in case...:

# mount -o remount,rw /
# passwd
Changing password for root
New password:
Retype password:
passwd: password for root changed by root
# logout
Connection to 192.168.1.30 closed.
tux@TUX-FIXE:~$ ssh root@192.168.1.30
root@192.168.1.30's password:
# reboot
WARNING: could not determine runlevel - doing soft reboot
(it's better to use shutdown instead of reboot from the command line)

Broadcast message from root@BARTOP (pts/0) (Tue Oct 17 22:08:51 2017):

The system is going down for reboot NOW!
# Connection to 192.168.1.30 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.1.30 closed.
tux@TUX-FIXE:~$ ssh root@192.168.1.30
root@192.168.1.30's password:
Permission denied, please try again.
root@192.168.1.30's password:

I add that /etc/passwd has correctly been touched:

# ls -ltrh /etc/passwd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 452 Oct 17 22:08 /etc/passwd

So as you can see: password can correctly be changed, stored, and it even works.... only until I reboot the machine -_-

Any hint?

[Substring]

@unik314r you can't change it, we're nto using the standard linux mechanisms for password registration. You could "eventually" activate the secure mode if you want a different root password (and i'm not even sure you can change it afterwards). But beware, deactivating the secure mode has many more consequences and can't be disabled from ES for now

[rockaddicted]

@substring said in Change root password:

(and i'm not even sure you can change it afterwards)

you can, but by disabling option in recalbox.conf.
The switch in ES is buggy, I've done a merge request, will be fixed once merged and deployed.

The issue about changing the root password is about this "security option".
At every boot, there is a "security option" check, and if the option is not enabled, the password is reset by default.
https://gitlab.com/recalbox/recalbox/blob/master/board/recalbox/fsoverlay/recalbox/scripts/recalbox-config.sh#L58

[unik314r]

Great so I'm not that dumb
I'll try it asap and I'll tell you.

Thanks a lot

[unik314r]

@rockaddicted

LOL
I changed "recalboxroot" password for my personal one.
Tried a logout/login via ssh --> success, ok new password is set.
Then I switched to system.security.enabled=1 in recalbox.conf (as you said in your previous post)

# shutdown -r now

--> Now I can't ssh neither with my new password, nor with "recalboxroot"

I guess I'll have to F2/ALT-F4 when I get back home... But I'm not sure since I think login is also asked...
Maybe I'll have to take SD off and mount it on my PC in order to be able to edit recalbox.conf manually...

(And when I'll get system.security.enabled=0 back I think I'll do:

if [ "$securityenabled" != "1" ];then
    echo "MY_PERSO_PASSWD_LOL"
    exit 0
fi

...Dirty but might work...

[rockaddicted]

@unik314r I never said you will be able to change your root password by a custom one.
I was replying to @Substring that said you could maybe not able to disable the security option, once activated.

So to behavior about this option and the root password is :

• on boot recalbox check this option statut :

  • security option disabled : If disabled, system force the default root pass recalboxroot (to reset it).

  • security option enabled: If enabled, system generate a random root pass that if available in ES menu option. This one is reset on option disabled and system rebooted.

So for the moment there no way to change the root password to use a custom one.
If you want to do that, you must edit the recalbox-config.sh script as you done.

We'll maybe manage this case in a next release. But for the moment it is generic or random password only.

[unik314r]

@rockaddicted
Fine, it's now completely clear.
Thanks!

[rockaddicted]

@unik314r you are welcome

[valvolt]

Uh... so if I understood correctly:

• if you do not activate the security option, you are in 'insecure' mode
• in 'secure' mode you get a one-time random password

I see the intent, even if I'm not convinced by the approach.
Questions:

• in the system.security.enabled=0 what else is auto-reset? In other words, how valid are the security tips valid for 4.0 and above written here https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Security-(EN) ?
• do you have documentation somewhere about what happens when you enable security? Namely, does it affect the Wifi password storage or the retroachievement password storage?

I volunteer to write a new document on the wiki for 4.1 if you provide the info

[rockaddicted]

@valvolt

• if option not enabled = recalboxroot as password (regenerated at each boot, so no way to use a custom defined one).
• if option enabled = system generates an random one (can't be define by user). This password will be same until you disable the option. System don't generates a new one at each reboot.
  So yes you can't define it, but once activated and pass stored in your big brain, no issue. (you can find it easily in ES menu, but need a physical access on your recalbox).

About security option features, I'll have to read the source code because I didn't write this option and it is not documented.
But here are the behaviors that I remember :

• disable virtualgamepads
• disable webmanager
• add a password to samba share
• generate a random root password

There is maybe other features impacted. I'll have to check if I find a moment.

[rockaddicted]

FYI, the ES switch to manage this option is currently broken.
So once this option enabled in ES, you'll have to edit recalbox.conf to disable it.
Will be fixed in a next upgrade.

[unik314r]

@rockaddicted "So once this option enabled in ES, you'll have to edit recalbox.conf to disable it."
I don't agree: I've tried many times to edit from system.security.enabled=1 to system.security.enabled=0 (manually, vi etc...) but 1 still comes back at each reboot.

May be I should

• kill emulationstation
• change to 0
• shutdown -r now

Anyway, setting my own password in scripts/recalbox-config.sh here

if [ "$securityenabled" != "1" ];then
echo "MY_OWN_PASSWD"
exit 0
fi

did not work either (I think it's normal: system.security.enabled is still at 1)

However, when I set my passwd with recalbox-config.sh:
# recalbox-config.sh setRootPassword MY_OWN_PASSWD

--> It stores (and encodes) MY_OWN_PASSWD in /boot/recalbox-boot.conf

So now, I have:

• system.security.enabled=1 in recalbox.conf
• "recalboxroot" set in recalbox-config.sh
• "MY_OWN_PASSWD" (encoded) in /boot/recalbox-boot.conf

--> Now I can ssh with "MY_OWN_PASSWD" and I have security enabled.

[unik314r]

@unik314r said in Change root password:

May be I should

• kill emulationstation
• change to 0
• shutdown -r now

Yes it worked: system.security.enabled stayed at 0 after reboot.

[unik314r]

o_O ...
Kind of strange:

# grep security.enabled ~/recalbox.conf
system.security.enabled=0
#
--> OK, password = what is written in recalbox-config.sh

# grep recalboxroot /recalbox/scripts/recalbox-config.sh
#
--> OK, default password is not recalboxroot anymore, indeed I set my own:

# grep Vi /recalbox/scripts/recalbox-config.sh
echo "Vi......."
#

--> But ssh only works with recalboxroot !

(I checked rootshadowpassword = it still corresponds to my own passwd , encoded)

I double-rebooted --> passwd is still recalboxroot

Does recalbox manages passwords somewhere else? Did I miss something?

[frankie842]

@unik314r My son accidently changed my root password, and or turned on secure mode on the recalbox. Now I can't use the web based manager. When I put in the IP address of the recalbox into my url, it says server unavailable. How do I get back to using the web based manager?
Thanks

[rockaddicted]

@frankie842 in ES, in security menu, you have your new root password.
Access to your recalbox with your network whare (samba). Use root/your_root_password to log you.
Then edit your recalbox.conf et disable security option.
Once done, reboot your recalbox, and the option should be sactivated.
When you are editing your recalbox.conf file, keep your ES menu closed. if don't, your modifications wont be effective.