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I accidentally deleted the /etc/shadow file while experimenting with commands (yeah a newbie!). Now I'm not being able to use sudo and after logging out not being able to login. This all is obvious. Then I created another crunchbang virtual machine, booted from it and mounted the virtual disk of the previous VM. Strangely I can see that the /etc/shadow file and also the 'shadow-' both are still present in the previous virtual disk. I again booted the older VM just to recheck but still not able to login. What is the problem???

Config : CrunchBang 10 as guest on Win7 32 bit using virtual box 4.1.8.

EDIT : Problem FIXED

BIG BLUNDER!!! The shadow was not there, just shadow-. Just copied /etc/shadow- to /etc/shadow then booted from the older VM. Boot successful!!!. Thanks for help and sorry for the unnecessary trouble.

Thanks.

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Permissions are correct? /etc/passwd also exists? – manatwork Mar 16 '12 at 13:39
Are you not able to login with any user, including root? – htor Mar 16 '12 at 13:40
@manatwork yes... – rsjethani Mar 16 '12 at 13:40
@hesse the debian system keeps root password blank...so IMHO you can never actually login as root. – rsjethani Mar 16 '12 at 13:41
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Empty password field means no password required to log in. To disable log in as the given user the password field should contain an invalid character, usually an ! or *. – manatwork Mar 16 '12 at 13:51
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closed as too localized by Michael Mrozek♦ Mar 16 '12 at 20:44

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