How to Reset ALL Mambo 4.x - 4.6.x/Joomla 1.0.x-12 User Passwords in 1(10) Sweep(s)

This article explains how to assign an automatically generated passwords to Mambo 4.x/Joomla 1.0.x-12 User Database table. You will need PHPMyAdmin or a similar MySQL Client to be able to be able to execute the following.

Goal: Generate a new set of Passwords to All Mambo/Joomla Users and have a spreadsheet copy of this new set of passwords with corresponding usernames.

Note: The steps below aims to be verbose, so there are other possible ways to do this in a quicker way with less steps, but the broken down concept will always be similar to this,

Step 1.) Run this query (PHPMyAdmin recommended):

SELECT *, SUBSTRING(MD5(RAND()), -8) as password2 from mos_users;

Step 2.) Export the Results to an sql file (With Drop Database Option checked.)

NOTE: (To Export custom query results from PHPMyAdmin, use the "Export" button found in the "Query results operations" and NOT the "Export" link from the top tabs.)

Step 3.) Add a `password2` column to mos_users:

ALTER TABLE `mos_users` ADD COLUMN `password2` TEXT NOT NULL AFTER `params`;

Step 4.) Import the SQL File Generated from STEP 1 into mos_users table

Step 5.) Run the following query against mos_users table:

SELECT *, MD5(password2) as password3 from mos_users;

Step 6.) Export the Results to an sql file.

Step 7.) Add a `password3` column to mos_users:

ALTER TABLE `mos_users` ADD COLUMN `password3` TEXT NOT NULL AFTER `password2`;

Step 8.) Import the SQL File Generated from STEP 5 into mos_users table

Step 9.) Now drop the current password column

ALTER TABLE `mos_users` DROP COLUMN `password`;

Step 10.) Rename password3 column as password.

CHANGE COLUMN `password3` `password` TEXT NOT NULL;

NOTE: The `password 2 column is the unhashed plaintext 8 character passwords. You might want to jot the result of the following query down or save it as CSV for future reference:

SELECT username, password2 from mos_users;

The resultset from the query above will be the copy of username and unhashed passwords. Once copied, you can safely drop the password2 column by:

ALTER TABLE `mos_users` DROP COLUMN `password2`;

How to Install VMWare Server 1.0.3 on Fedora 7

This will be a quick one.. im still very busy with work and somehow stumbled upon setting up VMware on my laptop.. I hope this could help someone.

1. Upgrade your kernel
   Invoke the following command in the console
   

   yum upgrade kernel

   Then edit /boot/grub/grub.conf and make sure that the "default" parameter is set to 0(zero) or is pointing to the latest kernel.
   
   Reboot the system.
   


2. Install the kernel headers and other necessary sources
   This can be done by invoking the following command in the console
   

   yum install kernel-headers

   and
   

   yum install kernel-devel

   then

   yum install xinetd

3. Download VMWare Server from http://www.vmware.com/download/server/, the Serial number can be obtained from the same page. Select the *.tar.gz instead of the RPM.
   


4. Uncompress the VMware-server-*.tar.gz file using the following command
   

   tar xvpf VMware-server-*.tar.gz

   then run
   

   vmware-install.pl

   Proceed until the install script halts on error
   


5. Download the installer patch from http://knihovny.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-any-any-update113.tar.gz
   
   Uncompress the archive and run
   

   runme.pl

6. You are set to run VMWare server. In Gnome, VMware is in the "Applications -> Other" Menu, in KDE, it can be found in "KDE Menu -> Lost and Found"
   

For any clarification, just post a comment..