cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

smcsw2000 · 2021-10-28 20:18:30

sorry if i am in the wrong place, but it has been 2 years since I have tried to fix a problem and feel like a newbee after all the changes that have come and gone.
did pacman -Syu on Oct 21 all was working well. then the next day the screen froze and restarted system. all loads fine . get to login screen tty1 put in user and password i get -login incorrect tried with root and password -login incorrect .so I tried all variations of the typing in the user name and password with the same result.
booted live disk and mounted sdc3 (home) tried changing password with passwd then the new password which it took but on boot the same problem
booted live disk and mounted sdc3 (home) tried to journalctl -b nothing, journalctl -b -1 and get invalid option -1
I go to /etc/passwd and root and user is there with |x|for password go to /etc/shadow and the password is there for root and user but encrypted (cant unencrypt)
should be easy fix but been out of the loop for too long. where to try next?? thanks .

IrvineHimself · 2021-10-28 21:10:44

I did have a minor problem with my root password a few day's ago, and like you i tried changing it to no avail. Finally, after half an hour of piddling around, cleaning the keyboard and looking for other potential causes, for no apparent reason, it started working again. I put it down to a dirty keyboard.

Since it will largely depend on when you last updated the system, I have no idea of the cause. But, using a chroot from a rescue USB, live disk or whatever, I would start by undoing the last update. To the best of my knowledge, unless you have made a backup prior to the update, (I don't,) the only safe choice for this is with:

pacman -U <path to cache>/<pckg1-oldversion> <path to cache>/<pckg2-oldversion> <path to cache>/<pckg3-oldversion>  .....

You can get the package list for the update from the pacman log. Note, both the cache and the log are in var. Also, if you find the above intimidating, I would point out that this is another good reason to update your system regularly.

On a side note, your password is not encrypted, nor even stored on the computer. What is stored is a hash calculated from the password. When you enter the password a new hash is calculated and compared with the stored value. You cannot reverse this calculation to get the password from the hash.

Irvine

Edit:
As a "just in case" afterthought, after reverting the update, it might be an idea to reset your password?

Last edited by IrvineHimself (2021-10-28 21:34:42)

seth · 2021-10-29 03:26:59

Check the entry in /etc/shadow - it should look like "name:$6$some_salt$the_hash:…"

You can replicate the hash w/

openssl passwd -6 -salt the_salt_from_above your_password

and compare the hashes.

Make sure you're not hitting https://archlinux.org/news/sorting-out- … rd-hashes/ ("6" indicates the encryption type and should™ be that: "6") since

booted live disk and mounted sdc3 (home) tried changing password with passwd then the new password which it took but on boot the same problem

"tried" and no mention of "chroot" doesn't inspire too much confidence here

Irvine wrote:

You cannot reverse this calculation to get the password from the hash.

Oh, you can… it just takes either a weak hash or really a lot of computing power and time ;-)

smcsw2000 · 2021-11-04 19:57:39

bought a new archlinux live dvd. reinstalled arch with every step. /boot ,/ ,/home and swap for partitions. did arch-chroot /mnt locale is set for en-US utf8 hostname is set in /etc/hostname did mkinitcpio -p and got boot image and fallback image done successfully set the root password successfully and then added user name which already existed and did passwd USER_NAME which was successful. did pacman -S linux and linux-lts, made sure grub was there and working. unmounted and rebooted . as with the initial cause of this request for help it booted fine. got to the tty1 screen and asked for the login for hostname when I did the user name and password i get "incorrect password" if i try root and password i still get "incorrect password". I cannot get out of the log in screen to try anything else. it is the same for tty3 and tty5. if the boot and program are working how can I get the password incorrect when I reinstalled ??

Last edited by smcsw2000 (2021-11-04 19:58:00)

seth · 2021-11-04 21:49:56

bought a new archlinux live dvd.

You can download the installation images for free and put them on a usb key.

set the root password successfully and then added user name which already existed and did passwd USER_NAME which was successful.

Did you wipe the root partition or did you install arch over the existing installation?
If you arch-chroot from the installation iso, check "pacman -Qikk pambase"

a) Do you use a keyboard w/ a qwerty layout?
b) See my previous post. Inspect /mnt/etc/shadow from the install iso and compare the hash to the one you generate w/ openssl
c) Try to set the password to "12345" (because those keys will be the same on pretty much every layout)

smcsw2000 · 2021-11-05 15:08:12

bought the archlinux because computer is old enough that usb will not be in the boot sequence. did pacman -Qikk pambase with the following
warning: pambase /etc (permissions mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/other (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/other (size mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/other (MD5 checksum mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/other (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/system-auth (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/system-auth (size mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/system-auth (MD5 checksum mismatch)
backup file: pambase: /etc/pam.d/system-auth (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
pambase 8 total files 1 altered file

seth · 2021-11-05 15:12:21

That's not the output of the command.
If you struggle to post it w/o a GUI environment

pacman -Qikk pambase | curl -F 'f:1=<-' ix.io

Also please address the other questions, but a permission mismatch on /etc (if that's part of the actual output) is not a good sign at all.

stat /etc

smcsw2000 · 2021-11-05 17:52:54

yes i am using a qwerty keyboard
inspected the /etc/shadow and am still trying to figure out the encrypton
pacman -Qikk pambase | curl -F 'f:1=<-' ix.io output
warning: pambase /etc (permissions mismatch)
curl (6) could not resolve host: ix.io

stat /etc output
File /etc
size:4096 Blocks 8 IO Block:4096 directory
device: 8,35 inode 391681 links 91
access : (0777/drwxrwxrwx) UID ( 0/ root) GID ( 0/ root)
access: 2021-11-04 14-41-02.900369236 -0500
modify: 2021-11-04 16-32-34.813795595 -0500
change:2021-11-04 16-32-34.813795595 -0500
birth: 2017-01-26 10-01-53.714082160 -0600
one weird thing on the keyboard I notice that when I try to use the cap locks key it will not work unless I press shift first to engage and also to release the cap locks

seth · 2021-11-05 20:17:53

curl (6) could not resolve host: ix.io

Why don't you have network access?

access : (0777/drwxrwxrwx) UID ( 0/ root) GID ( 0/ root)

Why is /etc world writable?? Please revert that to 755

one weird thing on the keyboard I notice that when I try to use the cap locks key it will not work unless I press shift first to engage and also to release the cap locks

Is this an external keyboard that you can swap out or is it the internal device of a notebook?
Though I assume you enter your username as well and would notice if it came out in all caps?

smcsw2000 · 2021-11-05 23:41:17

internet access not up due to restart of live cd and not needing internet for file checks and troubleshooting (i thought)
pacman -Qikk pambase | curl -F 'f:1=<-' ix.io output
warning: pambase /etc (permissions mismatch)
http://ix.io/3E9w
keyboard is standard qwerty usb connected to desktop computer

seth · 2021-11-06 07:23:21

seth wrote:

Did you wipe the root partition or did you install arch over the existing installation?

seth wrote:

b) See my previous post. Inspect /mnt/etc/shadow from the install iso and compare the hash to the one you generate w/ openssl

cat /etc/pam.d/other
cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth

dogknowsnx · 2021-11-06 15:32:59

@smcsw2000 Sorry, but I can't help cringing while reading here. You bought a live cd and are now dealing with pam-related issues AND your system is open to the whole world?! What's wrong with this picture?
Please do yourself a favour and ask your family/friends if they are equipped with a cd writer, or take a pendrive with a validated official iso to a computer store and ask them kindly... and then start from scratch.

Reason for editing: Rephrasing.

Last edited by dogknowsnx (2021-11-06 15:44:57)

Arch Linux

#1 2021-10-28 20:18:30

cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#2 2021-10-28 21:10:44

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#3 2021-10-29 03:26:59

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#4 2021-11-04 19:57:39

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#5 2021-11-04 21:49:56

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#6 2021-11-05 15:08:12

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#7 2021-11-05 15:12:21

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#8 2021-11-05 17:52:54

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#9 2021-11-05 20:17:53

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#10 2021-11-05 23:41:17

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#11 2021-11-06 07:23:21

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

#12 2021-11-06 15:32:59

Re: cannot log in on tty1 after pacman update

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