Extremely stupid FreeBSD mistake

Question

I accidently did a echo "" > /etc/rc.conf on my box and I locked my self out completely stupidly tring to get the rc.conf back then rebooted making my self locked out.

Answer 1

You've got two options:

1. Try booting to single user mode. This claims to tell you how, but I'm not sure how much of that behavior depends on rc.conf, so you may have to...

2. Boot a rescue CD. Ideally a freeBSD one that you can copy the rc.conf off of and onto your machine.

Answer 2

Single user mode doesn't use rc.conf at all.

You can get into SU mode by rebooting and waiting until the loader comes up - that shows you the full screen ASCII display with a count down timer - and press 4.

If the bold white kernel text appears before you press 4 you missed it.