[SOLVED] authorization failure trying to access system configuration

garyg007 · 12-19-2009, 08:49 PM

tried to access system-->administration-->services and get a message box that says

Quote:

The configuration could not be loaded
You are not allowed to access the system configuration.

This did work; now it does not. This also fails if I switch to a console (ctl-alt f6), log in as root and switch back to desktop (ctl-alt-f7)

BACKGROUND:
I did have a problem about a month ago; I tried to add a user using
system-->administration-->users and groups; this failed and replaced the "real" /etc/group file with an empty one except for one noname entry I got that fixed using the /etc/group that was stored in /home/.Trash-0

Does anyone have any Idea how I can get back authorization to the system configuration?

(This was on my Debian-lenny system)

dreamwalking · 12-20-2009, 09:31 AM

Uhm, you are using Gnome? What services are you trying to access? What happens if you do directly to a terminal, su and type the command of the administrative task you want to perform?

In a thread in Ubuntu forum, someone said they solved the problem by updating the system-tools-backends package (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=421881&page=3).

You can try and restore your groups with groupadd, addgroup, etc (http://www.debianadmin.com/users-and...-in-linux.html)

tredegar · 12-20-2009, 11:16 AM

I think your groups are probably in a mess.

If it helps, the administrative user for kubuntu 8.04 belongs to the following groups:

Code:

myusername adm dialout fax cdrom floppy audio video plugdev syslog scanner fuse lpadmin admin netdev sambashare

If you add yourself to these groups, logout and back in again for the changes to take effect, things might work better for you.

Quote:

This also fails if I switch to a console (ctl-alt f6), log in as root and switch back to desktop (ctl-alt-f7)

This won't help you. You may be root at the terminal on (ctl-alt f6) but you are still your usual self on (ctl-alt f7).

You'll need to login as root on (ctl-alt f6) see what groups you are currently in:

Code:

groups yourusername

and then add your username to the right groups:

Code:

usermod  -aG  groups,to,be,added  yourusername

then relogin to the GUI as yourself (now with a full set of group permissions)

garyg007 · 12-21-2009, 10:53 AM

Thanks for the info, tredegar;

I can't get power to the debian machine at the moment; as soon as I get that sorted out, I'll report what happened with the examination of /etc/groups

Gary

garyg007 · 12-29-2009, 11:06 AM

Sorry for the delay getting back about this.

I checked /etc/group --- all of the entries you suggested, are already there, so that is not the problem. Any other Ideas ?

Edited Data: "groups MyName" shows that I am missing from syslog, and admin

Gary

tredegar · 12-29-2009, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Edited Data: "groups MyName" shows that I am missing from syslog, and admin

So I expect you have it fixed by now. Yes?

garyg007 · 12-30-2009, 10:35 AM

Hello, tredegar;
No, unfortunately, that did not fix it.

next step is to see if I can extract /etc/group from and old backup I have and compare the two files.

Gary

tredegar · 12-30-2009, 10:42 AM

Quote:

No, unfortunately, that did not fix it.

But you are not telling us what "that" is

I was hoping you would say something like "I did usermod -aG syslog,admin garyg (as root), then completely logged myself out and back in again and ...."

garyg007 · 12-31-2009, 10:14 AM

Sorry, I sometimes assume too much.

Quote:

THAT

Was a reference to the suggestions made in your first post

Gary

tredegar · 12-31-2009, 10:27 AM

OK.

No error messages?

Please post (copy & paste) the output of

Code:

groups yourusername

garyg007 · 01-01-2010, 09:12 PM

No messages other than what I referred to in my first post;

Unfortunately, it never dawned on me to check the console log (i'm not even sure where it is in debian linux)

The power supply in my debian pc failed (with healthy stink) so it will be a few days until I can get it fixed and can provide the requested cut-n-paste

gary

garyg007 · 01-02-2010, 06:25 PM

here is cut-n-paste requested

Code:

Debian:/home/gary# whoami
root
Debian:/home/gary# groups gary
nogroup root sys adm lp dialout fax cdrom floppy tape sudo audio dip video plugdev users usb scanner netdev lpadmin powerdev gary fuse vboxusers admin syslog
Debian:/home/gary# groups root
nogroup
Debian:/home/gary#

tredegar · 01-03-2010, 03:51 AM

Thanks.

Your groups are still in a mess:
gary should not be a member of the groups root sudo or nogroup
root should not be a member of nogroup (but it probably doesn't matter)
root should be a member of just one group: root

I am surprised your system is running at all.

You'll probably have to boot from a live CD, mount your linux partition and edit /etc/group to fix it up, then unmount your linux partition, and reboot

garyg007 · 01-06-2010, 02:03 PM

Thanks for the info; Made the changes indicated, but I still cannot access
The system configuration; neither as user nor as root
here is another cut-n-past

Code:

Debian:/home/gary# groups gary
nogroup sys adm lp dialout fax cdrom floppy tape audio dip video plugdev users usb scanner netdev lpadmin powerdev gary fuse vboxusers admin syslog
Debian:/home/gary#

It still shows me as a member of "nogroup" -- but /etc/group DOES NOT
Hmmmmm ???

Gary

possible I edited /etc/group wrong; It was edited using command from root terminal:"gedit /etc/group"

tredegar · 01-07-2010, 12:01 PM

Quote:

It still shows me as a member of "nogroup" -- but /etc/group DOES NOT

Maybe something is badly broken.
Editing /etc/group by hand without a backup is probably a bad idea, using the groups and newgrp commands is a better idea, because those group numbers in /etc/group are what really matter, and it's easy to mistype a number.
You could do a clean install to a spare partition, and take a copy of the new /etc/groups file

Back in your first post you said

Quote:

I got that fixed using the /etc/group that was stored in /home/.Trash-0

How did that ( group end up in /home/.Trash-0 ) happen? Only root should be allowed to delete /etc/group, and if root deleted it, it would just be deleted, not moved to /home/.Trash-0

Otherwise I'm fresh out of ideas. Sorry.