Sudo mess up: ! !! !! !! !! !!

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I just messed up my system:

Here is the problem:

1) I have no root user on the system.
2) sudo is in 0444 not 0440. But haveing no root i cannot change this.
3) My BIOS cannot boot from USB/Live Cd.
4) recovery mode reqiurees sud to preform commands.
Is there anyt way to fix this?

James

How can you not boot from a cd? Is it your boot order, or do you not have a cd drive. And what distro of linux are you using?(I'm going to assume this is linux because it is the most common form of *nix that has open command line)

How can you not boot from a cd? Is it your boot order, or do you not have a cd drive. And what distro of linux are you using?(I'm going to assume this is linux because it is the most common form of *nix that has open command line)

Out of curiousity, how did you manage to install Linux in the first place if you can't boot from cd or usb?

It has the capability to boot from CD. But the option is not installed. I am running ubuntu 11.04. It can boot from a floppy. The computer is a Dell Optiplex GX150. Without out the internal CD drive. I caused the error by going to etc/ and tyeping: chmod +r /etc/sudoers (Stupid I know). it was only afterwards I realized how stupid that was.

I don't know if that's something that can be fixed unless you find some privilege escalation exploit to gain root access and clean things up. Your best bet is probably to install a stable release (not an early alpha build) and avoid doing strange things to important system files.

I am going to install a cd drive and install Debian..

Thanks for all your help.

It turns out it is a fatal error in the sense sudo can never be restored.


James

If you can't boot from a CD, it's a hardware problem, not a problem with the operating system. It could be that either the disk or the CD drive is corrupted. I once tried to write a bootable installer to an unpartitioned USB drive, and when I tried to boot off of it, the BIOS didn't detect it. It could also be a firmware issue.

I do not have a installed cd r/w drive. I had to borrow my sisters.