Now I can do things in single-user mode.  
  But editing the password file using
  vipw (according to item 22 in the FAQ dated 19 Apr 94) 
  or adding new users
  seems to have no effect -- I can't seem to modify the root password nor

 This puzzled me too - you can't change a password with vipw, because
 you see the encrypted version - but you can delete the password
 completely with vipw (creating an account with no password),
 and then change the password once multiuser with passwd.

Yes!!  I'm in!!

I thought I had tried your approach without success once.  Maybe adding a
new account did it.  Or maybe it was setting the date before I did the
vipw.  At any rate, it worked - thanks for the clue.

Dave


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