Member Avatar for StuartFirth

Hi,

I think that this is quite simple, but I have lost the right code to enter at this point.

My Mac won't boot past the UNIX command line and gives the following:

/etc/master.passwd: Not a directory
/etc/master.passwd: Not a directory
-sh: /etc/profile: Not a directory
-sh-2.05b#

Then a command prompt, of course.

THE MACHINE IS A G3 350MHZ 256MB RAM

I would be grateful if anyone could jog my memory on this.

Thanks very much,

Stuart Firth

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Dani AI

Generated

Short note: the "Not a directory" errors usually mean the system expected /etc to be a directory (or to be a symlink to /private/etc) but found a regular file or a broken link instead. As 's pointer fixed it for , the common and safe repair is to boot single‑user, run a quick disk check, then restore the correct /etc symlink — moving any stray /etc out of the way rather than deleting it.

Boot into single‑user (hold Command+S) and run these commands (type them exactly):

/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /
ls -la /etc
# if /etc is a regular file, move it and recreate the symlink:
mv /etc /etc.bad
ln -s /private/etc /etc
ls -l /private/etc/master.passwd
reboot

Notes and cautions:

  • ls -la /etc should normally show /etc -> /private/etc. If it does, the problem may be missing/corrupt files under /private/etc; check that master.passwd and profile exist there.
  • Moving /etc to /etc.bad is safer than removing it — it preserves anything that was overwritten so you can inspect or restore it later.
  • If fsck reports disk errors that it cannot fix, or if /private/etc/master.passwd is missing, use the OS install DVD to run Disk Utility (Repair Disk) or restore from backup. If unsure, clone the disk first or seek service; careless edits in single‑user mode can make things worse.

Practical takeaway: accidental overwrites of the /etc symlink (or filesystem corruption) cause these messages; recreating the symlink and repairing the disk is the usual remedy.

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Member Avatar for yellow

Does this help?

Member Avatar for StuartFirth

Does this help?

It more than helps! It has returned my computer to functionality, and I am abundantly grateful.

Thanks ever so much kind Sir.

Regards,

Stuart

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