Reset the root password on Rocky Linux 9

Use this procedure to reset the root password on a Rocky Linux 9 system.

1. Start the machine. When the bootloader screen appears, press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key to stop the boot countdown.
2. Select the most recent kernel and press e to edit the boot parameters.
3. Find the line that starts with linux, then modify it as follows:
   • remove the console directive and its value, for example console=ttyS0,115200n8
   • remove any other console=... or vconsole=... attributes
   • replace ro with rw
   • add init=/bin/bash

The modified linux line should look similar to this:

4. Press Ctrl-x to boot the system with the modified parameters.
5. Wait until the boot process finishes and the shell prompt appears.

6. Change the root password:

passwd

7. Force an SELinux relabel:

touch /.autorelabel

warning

Type the touch /.autorelabel command exactly as shown. If you make a mistake in the file name or path, you must restart the whole procedure.

8. Reboot the system:

/usr/sbin/reboot -f

The machine can reboot more than once. When the reboot sequence is complete, log in with the new root password.