quick-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/root-account-locked.adoc

= Root Account Locked
Héctor H. Louzao P
:revnumber: F28 and newer
:revdate: 2021-11-21
:category: Administration
:tags: How-to, root, troubleshooting
//:page-aliases: 


== Phenomenon

Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked in emergency mode (dracut emergency shell)

== Reason

This is a known problem. It happens Fedora releases 28 and newer, which don’t require password for root account during 
installation https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/ReduceInitialSetupRedundancy#Root_Account[Root Account] and use 
first user added as `administrator/superuser`. In this case root account is locked, and if `/home` is inaccessible – then 
the system can’t use superuser/administrator account either.

== What to Do?

If you find yourself in this situation and you can’t resolve problem with `/home` mounting from Live disk/USB, 
and you need access to emergency mode, the solution is simple.

. Boot into Live disk/usb and chroot into your Fedora installations as documented in this xref:grub2-bootloader.adoc#_restoring_bootloader_using_live_disk[Fedora Quick-docs Article]
- following steps depends of your File System `LVM/BTRF/LUKS`.

. Unlock root account by supplying password for it:
+
----
passwd root
----

. Exit chroot environment with [Ctrl-d] or
+
----
exit
----

. Reboot your computer with GUI or with
+
----
systemctl reboot
----