LinuxQuestions.org
Visit Jeremy's Blog.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 05-26-2004, 10:32 PM   #1
jeffreybluml
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Minnesota
Distribution: Fedora Core 1, Mandrake 10
Posts: 405

Rep: Reputation: 30
Transfer root's settings to user


Hello all,

So, somewhere along the line I seem to have really messed up my user account. It is suffering from repeated crashes, the cause for which I can't determine.

However, I'm finding that if I am logged in as root, everything is smooth as can be once again. So, I need to know if there is a way to get all the various settings and configurations from root copied over the settings and configurations for my user account. I understand that I can just create a new user account, but I suspect this will require alot of work getting things back to the way I like them, and root is already set up to suit my needs. I would just run as root from now on, but I read so often here that this is a very bad idea.

Any ideas? I'd just do a

#cp -r /root/* /home/jeff/*

but this would OBVIOUSLY not be right. But surely there is something similar I can do to quickly copy all of root's settings for EVERYTHING over to the user...right?

Thanks,
 
Old 05-26-2004, 10:36 PM   #2
trickykid
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jan 2001
Posts: 24,149

Rep: Reputation: 269Reputation: 269Reputation: 269
I wouldn't copy root's preferences to your user, if you can find what programs are causing the most trouble, just remove their config's from the users home directory and start over, reconfiguring it, etc.
 
Old 05-26-2004, 10:57 PM   #3
darthtux
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2001
Location: 35.7480° N, 95.3690° W
Distribution: Debian, Gentoo, Red Hat, Solaris
Posts: 2,070

Rep: Reputation: 47
If the trouble happens on certian programs then, as Trickykid said, delete that programs configuration files in your home directory. I don't know how familiar you are with Linux but program config files begin with a period. So do an
ls -a
to view them

If worse comes remove all the configuration files from your home directory and copy the ones that were present when your user account was created with
cp -r /etc/skel/* ~
 
Old 05-27-2004, 09:43 AM   #4
jeffreybluml
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Minnesota
Distribution: Fedora Core 1, Mandrake 10
Posts: 405

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 30
Thanks for the replies. My problem is that I cant tell which programs are creating the problem.

But nothing is as it was. It boots up really slow now (unless I'm root, of course) and crashes with no discernible pattern. I've checked numerous logs, even posted some of them here, but can't seem to single out the root of problem.

I am curious about this /etc/skel idea. What is this directory? Are these back up configs files or something? Never heard about this before...I may have to try it...

I'll let you know if I do. Thanks again!
 
Old 05-27-2004, 01:00 PM   #5
darthtux
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2001
Location: 35.7480° N, 95.3690° W
Distribution: Debian, Gentoo, Red Hat, Solaris
Posts: 2,070

Rep: Reputation: 47
/etc/skel contains the configuration files that the system put in your home directory when the user account was created.

Just move what files you need out of your home directory
as root create a directory such as
/home/SHARE
put your files there and then do the following

rm -rf /home/jeff/*
cp -r /etc/skel/* /home/jeff
cp -r /home/SHARE/* /home/jeff
chown -R jeff:jeff /home/jeff/*
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
hardware settings - transfer speed MarcQuaghebeur Linux - Hardware 1 04-20-2005 10:39 PM
transfer user profile bikov_k Linux - Newbie 3 10-22-2004 08:40 PM
user rights transfer ahmetaa Linux - General 1 08-19-2003 01:39 PM
how to add a new user with all settings the same as root's? NeoAnderson Linux - General 6 10-27-2002 05:10 PM
how to add a new user with every settings the same as root's? NeoAnderson Linux - General 9 10-05-2002 11:21 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:52 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration