Article 143137 of comp.os.vms:
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From: Arne Vajhoej <ARNE@ko.hhs.dk>
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: NO PASSWORD for VAX 11/750 (VMS )  Need Help!
Message-ID: <01I2OKIADMQ08WWF3G@kopc.hhs.dk>
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 15:02:38 +0100
Organization: Info-Vax<==>Comp.Os.Vms Gateway
X-Gateway-Source-Info: Mailing List
Lines: 70

> Got a VAX 11/750 with 4 HDs and so on....wonderful (!!!) machine, but how
> can I get it to work??? Have no password, ist there a possibility to start
> without it?

An extract from the VMS FAQ is attached !

                                                          Arne

Arne Vajhøj                             local DECNET:  KOPC::ARNE
Computer Department                     PSI:           PSI%23831001354030::ARNE
Southern Denmark Business School        Internet:      ARNE@KO.HHS.DK
                WWW URL: http://www.hhs.dk/~arne/arne.html

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MGMT5.  I've forgotten the SYSTEM password - what can I do?

If you need to "break in" to an OpenVMS system because you've forgotten
the SYSTEM password, you need to have physical access to the system console
and must be able to reboot the system.  Here are the steps.

  1.  Halt the system (press halt button or ^P on console of some models)
  2.  Boot into the SYSBOOT prompt - the syntax for this varies by
      system - it typically involves a flag of 1, for example:
        B/1
        B/R5:1
        b -flags 0,1     (Recent Alpha systems)
      If your system has a hardware password (some VAXstations have
      this), you will need to know the password and enter it using the
      LOGIN command at the console.  If you get an "Inv cmd" error trying
      to boot with a flag of 1, and can't LOGIN using the hardware password,
      you're stuck - call for hardware service to reset the hardware password.
  3.  At the SYSBOOT> prompt type:
        SET/STARTUP OPA0:
        C
  4.  Wait for the $ prompt.  The system will now be accepting startup
      commands form the console.  Type:
        SPAWN
        @SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP

      This causes the system to complete the startup, but leaves you
      logged in.  The SPAWN is necessary as without it you'll be logged out
      when the startup finishes.
  5.  Type:
        SET DEFAULT SYS$SYSTEM:  ! or wherever SYSUAF.DAT resides
        RUN SYS$SYSTEM:AUTHORIZE
        MODIFY SYSTEM /PASSWORD=newpassword
        EXIT

      This changes the SYSTEM password to a new value.
  6.  Type:
        RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYSGEN
        USE CURRENT
        SET/STARTUP @SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP.COM
        WRITE CURRENT
        EXIT
        @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN

      The system will now shut down.

   Reboot the system normally - the SYSTEM password should now be set as
   you specified in step 5.

   Some people will suggest a method using the UAFALTERNATE SYSGEN parameter.
   I don't recommend this as it is not reliable.

                                        [lionel@quark.enet.dec.com]
                Improvements by:        [thomasgd@boat.bt.com]

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