# Reset your passwords on OpenBSD
If you forgot your root password for OpenBSD, you can easily reset it if you
have access to the serial console.
First, you'll want to get access to the serial console. If your virtual
machine is using OpenBSD's VMM as the hypervisor, this can be accessed
using ssh:
$ ssh
[email protected]
Replace username with your real username, and example.com with your
hypervisor's hostname (host.ircnow.org, host.lecturify.net,
host.bsdforall.org, etc).
Once you get ssh access, you'll need to shut down your existing virtual
machine:
$ vmctl stop vm-name
Replace vm-name with your virtual machine name (it's usually the same as
your username).
$ vmctl start -c vmname
If you see the following error message:
vmctl: start vm command failed: Operation already in progress
This means your virtual machine has not finished shutting down. Wait a
minute or two, then retype the command `vmctl start -c vmname` again.
You should see the following:
CD-ROM: E0
Loading /6.9/AMD64/CDBOOT
probing: pc0 com0 mem[638K 1022M a20=on]
disk: hd0+* cd0
>> OpenBSD/amd64 CDBOOT 3.53
boot>
**Immediately**, without any delay, type:
boot> boot -s
At any time, if you need to escape the serial console (perhaps because
you were unable to stop OpenBSD from automatically booting),
type `~~.`
Select sh as your shell, then:
# fsck -p / && mount -urw /
# fsck -p / && mount -rw /usr
# fsck -p / && mount -rw /var
# fsck -p / && mount -rw /tmp
# passwd root
# passwd username
Replace `username` with your real username.
Then, reboot:
# reboot
## Recommended Reading
https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq8.html#LostPW
