Sometimes it is useful to access a machine booted with a sysresccd from another computer, for example to be able to open several terminal windows next to each other, or to be able to work from somewhere else (with a laptop on the couch for example ). Assuming the computer in question has a network connection, this is easily achieved:

Step 1: Set up networking

I am assuming the PC uses eth0 for the connection.

• via DHCP:

• dhclient eth0

• or manually (assuming your network is 192.168.1.0/24:

  # set IP address
  ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.123 netmask 255.255.255.0
  # Optionally, for internet access from that
  # machine, configure a default gateway
  route add default gw 192.168.1.1

Step 2: Set a root password

passwd

Step 3: Connect

You can now connect to the computer like so:

you@yourmachine:~$ ssh root@192.168.1.123

Some people searching for things like “system rescue cd root password” and “systemrescuecd ssh” find my blog, mainly because I once posted an article about ssh-ing to a PowerPC Mac running a System Rescue CD, so I thought let’s tell them what they search for