I think I did something wrong during my Mandrake installation, because there is no option to log in as administrator. Can I enable that without reinstalling?

do you mean root?

Yeh Switch user | log in as root or
In a console type "su -" then your password

from the sounds of it, it seems as though your not very familiar with root. be careful when using it; you can ruin the entire install .

read the RUTE user guide or the slackware guide, at least the sections that talk about root before you use it

Yes, root is what I meant. I can't login in as root at the login screen, because the only user available is me. And I have used root before, thank you. I have to "root" out the old Ndiswrapper preinstalled by Mandrake so I can install a newer one. Logged in as myself, Mandrake won't let me delete the files specified by the Mandrake-specific Ndiswrapper instructions.

well if you have used root before, you should remember that you should never log into the GUI as the root user.. use root for the extreme minimal time possible.

log in as the normal user, open a terminal/console and su to root, then run the command for your package manager with the root priviledges.

in a terminal just type su root

Mandriva disables root logging in via the GUI by default. It is possible to enable root to login via Mandrake Control Center but it is not recommended. Use su in a terminal as previously posted.

Jeesus what a load of paranoid garbage
True the user root isn't enabled on installation
As said above open System_>Configure your computer ,type in root password go to User administration and cross the root box so it shows up.
Then use switch user thereafter Back up your /home/~ stuff frequently and if you do any damage at any time just reinstall and don't format the user partition

What the heck is there to be frightened of its a bloody machine

There isnt anything to be frightened of, you're quite right. Using root for any length of time is just plain stupid though. Anything you want to do can be setup to be done as a user and should be. Unless you have 100% typing accuracy 100% of the time (which you don't, nobody does) you will make a mistake at some point in time and maybe break something which would have been in vain.

Sure, you can format and start again but I for once have spent a lot of time playing with configs that I don't wish to repeat. You can do stuff as root though, that's fine. Next time you break something make sure you shoot me an email or PM or something so I can laugh about it

You can also run GUI apps as root whilst logged in as a normal user by using kdesu e.g. "kdesu k3b". GNOME has similar apps named gksu and gnomesu.

You are a classic example "Wowsers" we call them . To the others I say
"You can be quite confident that attempting to do something yourself is an absolutely safe thing to do because whatever it is some bastard will stick his nose over your shoulder and tell you how you are doing it wrong.!"
Config files for your settings are all kept on your home partition and wont have to be done again and get real why would I want to tell you if I make a mistake . I don't understand why people have a need to include such ludicrous statements

Guys, I saw the argument and thought it would be a good time to ask about root as a newbie.

How exactly do I log-in as root inside the KDE desktop without having to logout and log back in as root? For most activities requiring root priviledges, KDE will prompt you for a password, but if I need to add a line or two to a config file that my regular user doesn't have permission for, how do I do it? If I need to use the command line, can anyone tell me how to open a text file from the command line? Does the "sh" command open text files? I would prefer to just use KDE, though.

I use sudo. For example if I need to check the mail log, I type sudo vim /var/log/maillog, I'm prompted for my user account's password and that's it.

Ok, but when I go to a certain folder and try to open a config file for example, when I enter the sudo command in that directory and point it towards that file, I get a prompt saying no such command or command not recognized. Is there no way to actually enter locked folders from within KDE without having to log-out and re-enter as root? I want to open a root only text file in KDE without having to actually log-in to KDE as root to begin a session. Is this possible?