root access in telnet
 

Ive read a post earlier today about how some one wanted to reboot there computer by using the root account through telnet but was un successful. I want to know how to enable the root account. I am not concerned about security because its me and my brother on the home network hosting mp3s to each othere on a 200MHz POS computer. the root account would be nice to access because I don't have any other accounts set up on the computer. Just root. Thanks for the help!

Add this to your /etc/securetty

pts/0
pts/1
pts/2
...
pts/10

It is a real bad habit to do this. If you need root access
to the box, which should almost never need, you should
login as a regular user and su to root

I'd rather suggest you add other users to the box than handing out the root passwords. If you just want to exchange files, maybe an anonymous ftp would be a better way of doing that.

Telnet itself is insecure and using it as root is - even when you just have a home network - fatal.

What you really need to do is setup ssh. Using SSH there is actually a config file (/etc/ssh/sshd_config) command called "PermitRootLogin". It is normally set to no, and should remain that way, but if you really want to, you could set that to yes and you will be able to login as root.

I agree with that. Logging in as root from remote is never what somebody should do ...

im really not concerned with security at all..... i want to run the least amount of demons or other things i can on my 133Mhz 64megs P.O.S.

ssh is an ideal solution for the question.
A little bit modification, I have used many versions of redhat, "PermitRootLogin yes" is the default setting.

Yes i have many distribution of redhat and it permit root by default.
but anyway ssh is the best solution right now. It is same with telnet's function maybe it can do more then telnet.

In telnet your password was not encrypted, but by ssh your password will encrypted before sent the information.

OKAY LISTEN CAN WE STEP away from out SSH hats and put on our "resource saving techniques" hats

ok, I give your the final solution
add
pts/1
into /etc/securetty

dcorwin822, I would agree with you in this particular scenario (only local network, no possible physical connection to the internet) that telnet is sufficient and appropriate. LogicG8 gave you the solution for setting that up in the first reply to your post. But you should definitely read and follow the other advice that both he and markus1982 gave you about adding a regular user account. It's just a bad idea to always play God when you're running your computer. One bad keystroke can do a lot of damage. For everyday usage, you shouldn't need to be root, and if you don't NEED to be root then you SHOULDN'T be root.

Add another user account. It'll only use about 10k of disk space.

Enjoy!
--- Cerbere

useradd <insert a user name here>
passwd <above user name> <password you want>

move your mp3 to the home directory of the new user, log out of root. To acess the stuff, log in as that new user.

If this doesnt interest you, ignoar me :P

LogicG8 was right in what he said, however ...

Its a good idea to get used to using SSH and not logging in as root. Lets say you get into a situation where you're not on a LAN...your telnet (usually disabled by default) isn't going to do you much good. Your SSH skills will come in handy though.

Just my 2 cents.