adminstrator login while auto-login is on?

joshknape · 07-18-2005, 03:48 PM

I have set auto-login for my user name, as nobody else uses my PC and I don't like stopping to enter a password. But what if I want to log in as administrator? I need the password box for that, and auto-login bypasses it.

halo14 · 07-18-2005, 03:51 PM

so log back out after it logs on.. then you can get to the login manager..

Michael Johnson · 07-19-2005, 03:46 AM

It is a very bad thing to login to a GUI as root. You shold NEVER do it. This what leaves windoze so open to attack by viruses, trojans and other nasties.
The quickest is to open a terminal and use "su".
You can also ALT-CTRL-F1 to obtain a command login prompt and use ALT-F7 to return to your GUI.

ethics · 07-19-2005, 04:22 AM

Even better, as root you can set sudo access (/etc/sudoers), which basically gives a user root priveledges on commands when you prefix sudo on it so:

sudo emacs /etc/fstab
(user)password:

would allow a normal user to edit system configs when required.

either way means you can perform simple tasks without having to log in/out etc.

p.s it's worth noting that some programs are only included in the root path, like fdisk on my system in which case you need

su -

not just

su

this will make you inherit roots paths too.

Michael Johnson · 07-19-2005, 04:27 AM

That is true. BUT if he is normally logged in as the user with sudo priviledges this will give anyone using the system root access albeit for 1 command at a time. This to me is not as secure as using su which is what I prefer.

ethics · 07-19-2005, 04:51 AM

Yup, you're right, although from the sudoers file you can add specific commands the user can run with sudo, limiting all others.

Not to mention the person would still need his password to execute via sudo, which no-one else should really have, and if they do surely you trust them not to go screwing with your system