Accidentally deleted all my group memberships

serg.kr · 08-25-2007, 11:36 AM

Hello,

I am currently running on Ubuntu 7.04. I have one user account set up for myself. My user account used to belong to a bunch of different groups. In my attempt to add another group, I accidentally made myself a member of only that group, and I deleted all my other group memberships. This caused many programs to stop working when I tried to run them. I can't even use "sudo" anymore.

How can I restore my previous group memberships? I don't remember the names of all the groups. Is there a way to "reset" my account?

tredegar · 08-25-2007, 12:29 PM

This is for 6.06.1, but I doubt 7.04 is that different:
At the grub prompt screen, arrow-down once to "Recovery mode", press return.
You will be logged in as root without needing a password, and without a GUI either.
Make yourself a member of the following groups:
yourusername adm dialout cdrom floppy audio dip video plugdev lpadmin scanner admin
Obniously, you'll have to change "yourusername" to whatever your username is.
Then type reboot
Try logging in as yourself

serg.kr · 08-25-2007, 09:21 PM

Thanks for the help!

One question, though: I am now able to run administrative programs without having to use sudo or gksu. This isn't really good from the security standpoint. How do I make it so that I do have to use sudo and type in a password?

tredegar · 08-26-2007, 10:43 AM

Quote:

I am now able to run administrative programs without having to use sudo or gksu.

If this is the case, you have messed up something else.
Rescue your personal data, and reinstall, otherwise you have no idea what security holes may be left open.

unSpawn · 08-26-2007, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Rescue your personal data, and reinstall, otherwise you have no idea what security holes may be left open.

Isn't that a bit radical advice for something that looks like it's just a configuration issue? Isn't there a way to check package contents changes? Or say debug the login to find out?