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I was given a linux server to repurpose, but first of all, I want to back it up but I don't know username and password, and it may be encrypted. Now I am running this noisy server, there are only 4 items I can choose: Language, Session, Restart or Shut Down. Also, a field to enter user's info. Could you please tell me if this is possible, and if so then how?

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  • SF isn't a site for asking homework questions. Please read the FAQ.
    – slm
    Mar 29, 2013 at 13:38
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    Welcome to Server Fault! Your question is off topic for Serverfault because it doesn't appear to relate to servers/networking or desktop infrastructure in a professional environment. It may be on topic for Superuser but please search their site for similar questions that may already have the answer you're looking for. Mar 29, 2013 at 14:15

1 Answer 1

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If it's not encrypted, you can attach the drive as a secondary drive to another linux machine and try running dd to duplicate the drive. Or, you could use clonezilla to duplicate the drive, technically this is bypassing security and I don't think I should be answering you, but in any event it will be useless to learn on any computer of which you don't have root access. Welcome to linux.

Update

If it is encrypted, then you're likely out of luck. You can try some basic default passwords for the root account which are googlable, but if this is truly just to learn linux then I suggest you blow it away and install linux from scratch, and use a book such as this one or it's sequel for a good primer. The former does give a brief intro to *nix commands on the bash shell, which probably doesn't mean much to you know but if you progress then it will.

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  • THANK YOU FOR REPLYING!!! I guess it was encrypted, so you mean there is no way to do it? Mar 29, 2013 at 13:17
  • @user2224373 please see my update, and don't forget to mark as answer if this helped you.
    – MDMoore313
    Mar 29, 2013 at 14:15
  • THANK YOU!!!! I found it was not so complicated. I entered single user mode, and changed the root's pwd, done. Now I am mounting an external hard drive, when I typed [yum search fuse] or [yum install fuse] on terminal, I only got [Loaded plugins fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile]. I am search for solution. Mar 30, 2013 at 2:30

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