James Dressel jtdressel

## fix-for-sudo-command-error-unable-to-initialize-pam-no-such-file-or-directory.md

      
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                / fix-for-sudo-command-error-unable-to-initialize-pam-no-such-file-or-directory.md
            
            
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              June 12, 2024 02:47
            
              
                macOS - Fix for sudo command error: "unable to initialize PAM: No such file or directory" (Intel+M1)
              
          
    In most cases, the sudo command displays the error unable to initialize PAM: No such file or directory mostly appears when the pluggable authentication module file /etc/pam.d/sudo has been edited with a typo or an incorrect PAM module.
Via Single-User-Mode > Terminal

If you have an older Mac, you can boot into single-user mode, which allows you to access the command line mode of macOS directly, bypassing the UI.


Press and hold down the COMMAND + S keys until you see commands being executed in the Terminal.


Open the sudo file with vi /Volumes/Macintosh\ - Data/etc/pam.d/, fix what's wrong, save and close the file by switching from INSERT to the COMMAND mode with the ESC key, type :wq!, and hit enter.