Root login not allowed

odyssey84 · 02-18-2008, 07:24 PM

Greetings,

I just installed Ubuntu (forget the version) and set up a root password. Tried to log in from where I use my normal ID and received the message: "System administrator not allowed to log in from this screen."

Any ways around this? I need to make a few changes to my sources.list and can't do so as far as I can tell.

Thanks,

Scott

BrianK · 02-18-2008, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odyssey84

Greetings,

I just installed Ubuntu (forget the version) and set up a root password. Tried to log in from where I use my normal ID and received the message: "System administrator not allowed to log in from this screen."

Any ways around this? I need to make a few changes to my sources.list and can't do so as far as I can tell.

It's really a good idea. root should never log in as a regular user.

to do anything rooty in ubuntu, you have 2 methods:

1. sudo
2. su

i.e.

Code:

sudo nano -w /etc/apt/sources.list
<enter your password>

-or-

Code:

su
<enter root's password>
nano -w /etc/apt/sources.list

An even better way is to use synaptic - System (the pulldown menu next to "places" and "application" - I forget what it's called in Ubuntu) > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
... and then edit the repositories from there

bigrigdriver · 02-18-2008, 07:29 PM

Aside from the security issues related to logging in as root (much safer to use sudo to do things with root autority), Ubuntu, by default dosn't create a root login per se. There is a config to change somewhere to allow root login, but I don't remember where.

Ubuntu allows you to login as user, then use sudo to do root maintenance.

frndrfoe · 02-18-2008, 07:40 PM

You 'sudo passwd root' and then you can 'su -' or login as root from the console. If you must for some reason log in as root over ssh then you will have to edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config to allow root login, I just don't recommend it

lycan · 02-19-2008, 05:26 AM

System > Administration > Login Window

Under "Security" tab check the box beside the line "Allow local system administrator login"

ninj4fly · 02-19-2008, 05:56 AM

Where root can login from is specified in /etc/securetty. Never have used ubuntu, but such file should exist as in Debian and RedHat. In addition as it was mentioned earlier if you want to specify login through ssh, you should configure it in sshd_config. For example, if you try to login through the serial port console, you should add "ttyS0" to /etc/securetty.