HELP! I seem to have clobbered by /etc/group file

[gr8muzh]

Please! Help a newbie!

I'm fairly new to LINUX (I did some UNIX Many MANY moons ago), and I'm having to relearn much of it. While trying to solve a problem with my USB 2.0 Scanner, I apparently have clobbered my /etc/group file. I can't use SUDO anymore, so I can't (apparently) get root privileges to fix it.

Is there any way to resurrect my system, or am I screwed? Do I have to start all over, or can I boot from the 'live' CD and repair it that way?

Please help. I don't want to have to go all the way back to square one if at all possible!

[penguin.ch]

Re: HELP! I seem to have clobbered by /etc/group file

can I boot from the 'live' CD and repair it that way

I'd say so - although using a "full-fleged" live system like Knoppix might make things easier (?).

[T113]

Re: HELP! I seem to have clobbered by /etc/group file

I hosed my passwd file last year.
There´s a way to fix this, and doing so will also point out the truth in the old saying to the effect of ¨if they can access your keyboard, they own your system¨.

The following page is instructions for recovering a missing/corrupt shadow file, but steps one and two should get you root access to your filesystem:

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/recove...word-file.html

If you´re really lucky, you might have a backup copy of your group file as /etc/group~
If that´s the case, just rename the existant /etc/group as /etc/group.bad and copy the backup (I.E. cp /etc/group~ /etc/group )

[SheeEttin]

Re: HELP! I seem to have clobbered by /etc/group file

I ruined my passwd/shadow last month. Fortunately, it was just a virtual machine, and I just reinstalled. (I was trying Sabayon. It's not ready for prime time yet.)

EDIT: I hosed my real one two months ago, just remembered. The backups too. Fortunately, still had it in Konsole scrollback. (I quickly learned you can't read from and write over the same file in a pipeline...)

[T113]

Re: HELP! I seem to have clobbered by /etc/group file

Must be contagious - I just, in essence, hosed my own group file.

Was trying to install Komba2 for an easier way of mounting SMB shares.

Never, ever follow directions blindly - gets me every time. If something sounds/feels wrong, stop, read up.

Komba2 instructions state:

Now you add the users to the new group.
% usermod -G sambamount username

Yeah, when I did that for MY user account, it removed me from ALL other groups. (no more sudo).
Had to use the method above to restore my fortunately backed-up group file.