Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

beng · 2019-01-06 23:02:32

Hi

After a forced reboot (the computer was hanging on external HD removal), I end up with the following message on each boot:

Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.
See sulogin(8) man page for more details.

Press Enter to continue.

I do not know what to do - please note I have LVM partitions.

I found these 2 posts in successive order:
- https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=3926
- https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 737#p55737

but when I tried to chroot but fdisk -l returns:

fdisk: cannot open /dev/sda: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdb: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/mapper/dgneb--vg-root: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/mapper/dgneb--vg-var: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/mapper/dgneb--vg-swap_1: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/mapper/dgneb--vg-tmp: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/mapper/dgneb--vg-home: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/loop0: Permission denied

Can anybody please help?
Thanks

Last edited by beng (2019-01-07 13:03:43)

ohnonot · 2019-01-07 01:11:12

your phrasing is a little unclear:
can you still use the computer, i.e. does the boot evtl. continue?

in any case, the usual first step is to compose a search phrase from the error message and start reading some.

it also asks you to read

man 8 sulogin

did you?

Last edited by ohnonot (2019-01-07 01:11:43)

beng · 2019-01-07 05:59:03

Hi

No, the boot won't go any further; i cannot use the computer.

I searched the board with the message and it returned the 2 posts mentioned in my own post andbegan to proceed as reported there (chroot);

read "man 8 sulogin" @ http://manpages.org/sulogin/8 but i do not know what to make of it hence my post.
Thanks

johnraff · 2019-01-07 08:21:20

Maybe the message before the "cannot open..." is the one to look at. If you don't see the previous messages, try editing the grub boot line to make the boot more verbose:

At the grub boot screen, select the entry you want to debug and press e
Scroll down the code to the line that starts with 'linux', and delete the word 'quiet', then press the key to boot (I forget, but it's written there).

Maybe there will be a hint in the boot messages.

beng · 2019-01-07 08:42:29

hi johnraff
thanks for your help.
I'm currently at work; will look at it tonight and post.

here is a picture of my screen (please bear with me - I'm as good at taking picture as I am at using BL )

...after logging in...

how can I log in from here?
Thanks

Last edited by beng (2019-01-07 13:18:04)

S7.L · 2019-01-07 14:55:42

Have a read of this here: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/sy … rvice.html

May help.

You should let us know what is your computer system setup - hardware/software etc?

Also in your screen shot it mentions below quote, what is the output of that if you are able to get a screen of it?

See 'systemctl status "systemd-fsck@dev...\x2d24c3024cd038.service"' for details,

And what is the output view of

journalctl -xb | tail -n 30

^ above will print tail end from the last 30 lines, you can increase the number if it helps debug, usually you can get issue info from the remainder of the output in my experience.

Last edited by S7.L (2019-01-07 15:11:01)

beng · 2019-01-07 17:30:04

Hi S7.L
Thanks but how do i log in to find out what journalctl -xb returns
please?

"What is your computer system setup?"
Dell latitude laptop, 8gb ram, 320gb ssd drive..
Used as a daily runner

ohnonot · 2019-01-07 20:23:51

filesystem check (aka fsck) failed.
you should probably boot live and check your filesystems manually and see what you get.
hard disk dying?

S7.L · 2019-01-08 02:42:08

beng wrote:

Hi S7.L
Thanks but how do i log in to find out what journalctl -xb returns
please?
"What is your computer system setup?"
Dell latitude laptop, 8gb ram, 320gb ssd drive..
Used as a daily runner

I dont know much about this but ill try to help.

I think by default when you install bunsenlabs the root account is locked out and the user does not have a choice to implement it. I could be wrong however, i haven't installed bl for awhile. So the problem could be that you are locked out of the root account so unable to login to console. You might be able to use sulogin --force when you chroot but i dont know as it may not be patched yet as per below debian bug report in link.

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo … bug=802211

beng · 2019-01-08 13:02:47

thanks S7.L & Bearded_Blinder

You might be able to use sulogin --force when you chroot

but how can I use it when I cannot chroot - see bottom of initial post?

Is there an option at the very first boot screen (the blueish/grey one with the 4 options, bunsenlabs, bunsenlabs recovery, bunsenlabs tty...) that will allow me some kind of access?

Alternatively from BL live?

thanks for your efforts

Last edited by beng (2019-01-08 13:07:02)

S7.L · 2019-01-08 14:51:44

Hi Beng,

ok so if you want to allow the root account you follow up what bearded blunder mentions.
Also i think you will need to make sure keyboard is set to US otherwise you may not be able to type anything at the bash prompt.

Typed commands in red...

when grub screen appears (blueish/grey one with the 4 options, bunsenlabs) type e

then go to the end of the line with your cursor that starts with linux, the end of the line should have ro quiet after that type this init=/bin/bash then press f10

once you are at the root@(none) prompt type the following mount -n -o remount,rw /

the after that type passwd root and choose your password, make it a good one and write it down and hide it somewhere you can find it.

then type reboot -f

See how that goes and if you can get control back to further investigate.

I can confirm i was able to get root access with this method although i dont have lvm partitions so your results may vary.

Last edited by S7.L (2019-01-08 14:55:10)

hhh · 2019-01-08 17:54:14

https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/20 … 00813.html

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo … bug=802211

beng · 2019-01-09 09:18:30

Hi
pressed e in grub and my linux line ends with

...root=/dev/mapper/dgneb--vg-root ro quiet

is the "ro quiet" expected here?
I'm trying to get into rescue mode so I can have a look at my fstab...
thanks

Last edited by beng (2019-01-09 09:26:37)

johnraff · 2019-01-09 09:32:25

^the 'ro' is fine, but if you want to see more messages just remove the 'quiet' before booting.
(The change will only apply for this boot.)

But, if you want a root shell, then follow S7.L's advice and add init=/bin/bash to the end of the line.

EDIT: sorry, I forgot, if you want to make changes to your system from that root shell then either follow S7.L's instructions above or edit that 'ro' in the boot line to 'rw'.

Last edited by johnraff (2019-01-09 09:41:41)

beng · 2019-01-09 10:35:08

Hi johnraff

The idea is to review the /etc/fstab as I suspect the issue could be there (it came up following the removal of an external Hard Drive); in the meantime I also found this (point 7):
https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/q … to-console

so, partially following S7.L instructions, I will go:

grub booting --> press "e"
at the end of the line that starts with linux, i will add:

init=/bin/bash

then press f10

once at the root@(none) I will type:

mount -n -o remount,rw /

(this will make my filesystem writable)

Here I do not want to set a password for root but merely review my fstab, so I will type:

nano /etc/fstab

review the fstab make changes if necessary

then type

reboot -f

what do you reckon - any comments?
thanks

Last edited by beng (2019-01-09 10:38:22)

S7.L · 2019-01-09 10:51:41

^ what Johnraff said is correct also beng.

EDIT: You have to enter a password to unlock the root account, otherwise you still wont be able to access anything as it is still locked...
.
.
.

Slightly off topic...

Maybe this root account locked is something that could be mentioned in the bl-welcome or is it already, i cant recall?

Its quite a alarming hack that grub command to get into root access like that but as has been said already, you physically lose your computer its end game. This is why i would rather have encrypted usb keys and files on the hdd with anything of a sensitive nature. I generally use pretty hard to crack encryption via veracrypt using diceware style pass phrases and generate a keyfile as well.

A good password is something like "slit mountain murkiness pacific semester freebase"

but not many people could be bothered to go to that length these days and by diceware status that pass length and type is just good not excellent.

Another usefull tool is pam usb, where your system cannot be unlocked at all without the specially created usb key.

diceware= http://world.std.com/~reinhold/diceware.html

pam usb= http://www.pamusb.org/

Last edited by S7.L (2019-01-09 11:03:05)

beng · 2019-01-09 12:39:57

Ok, now i have
give root password for maintenance or press ctrl+d to continue
Provuded the password creted before but how can i return to my usual system...

S7.L · 2019-01-09 14:04:01

beng wrote:

Ok, now i have
give root password for maintenance or press ctrl+d to continue
Provuded the password creted before but how can i return to my usual system...

So did you complete "passwd root" ?

beng · 2019-01-09 17:41:40

I did
and now:
I end up with

give root password for maintenance or press ctrl+d to continue

i type in the password I created and I have $ root@dgneb

damo · 2019-01-09 19:32:50

Is the @OP is asking how to start the user's graphical desktop?

#1 2019-01-06 23:02:32

Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#2 2019-01-07 01:11:12

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#3 2019-01-07 05:59:03

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#4 2019-01-07 08:21:20

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#5 2019-01-07 08:42:29

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#6 2019-01-07 14:55:42

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#7 2019-01-07 17:30:04

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#8 2019-01-07 20:23:51

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#9 2019-01-08 02:42:08

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#10 2019-01-08 13:02:47

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#11 2019-01-08 14:51:44

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#12 2019-01-08 17:54:14

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#13 2019-01-09 09:18:30

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#14 2019-01-09 09:32:25

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#15 2019-01-09 10:35:08

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#16 2019-01-09 10:51:41

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#17 2019-01-09 12:39:57

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#18 2019-01-09 14:04:01

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#19 2019-01-09 17:41:40

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

#20 2019-01-09 19:32:50

Re: Helium: Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.

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