I am trying to change settings, etc. in the KDE desktop (kubuntu distro) and everytime I go to 'administrator mode' and enter my password, (the box title says KDE su) nothing happens and the options stay gray. Or the right side of the window goes back to where I started.(I'm using a split screen view)

How can I get permissions to change settings, etc.? Also KUser seems to hang up now (little hourglass in panel) and I can't get into it at all.

Do I need another account to be able to act like root. I know its not a good thing to actually be in the root account.

Also I get ownership errors like these when I try to use the console (Konsole).

Error: "/var/tmp/kdecache-lizt" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
Aborting. $HOME not set!

I thought I had a home folder; I can see it for my account in the file tree.

Thanks. I'm feeling rather stupid about these questions, but I can't seem to find answers elsewhere.

This is a very old bug in Kubuntu. I have never seen a posted fix, but the most common workaround is to goto your KDE start menu, choose 'Run Command', and then issue the following command:

kdesu kcontrol

I decided to blow way Kubuntu for now and install Ubuntu, which is working fine. I'll play with the other at a later date when I have some more experience. I just wanted to get up and running without too much trouble at first.

I have to say I like the Gnome interface a lot since it's not as 'busy'.

Thanks all for your responses.