Logining as root

browncow · 05-24-2005, 06:24 PM

Hi, i am new to ubuntu and linux in genral.

I am trying to login as root, but I do not know the password. I have installed it twice now, and it does not ask me for one. It also does not accept the password i created for my one and only user login.

Am i missing something here?
or whats going on?

Thanks in advance for any help.

musicman_ace · 05-24-2005, 06:56 PM

If you need to change roots password (you don't need to know it) type

sudo passwd root

It will ask for your user password, not root's.

logging into the Graphical Interface requires a little more work.

browncow · 05-24-2005, 07:11 PM

thnx dude, it allowed me to be able to do what i wanted to do.

browncow · 05-24-2005, 07:51 PM

Ok, I am trying to edit my sources for apt-get however I am "not privledged to do so"
I think this comes back to my problem as not being able to login in as root.
Can I edit this sources.list file from the command line??

Also what are some good FTP's for files.
I want to make sure the right ones are in there.

musicman_ace · 05-24-2005, 08:25 PM

I've always been able to edit source.list by

sudo vi /etc/apt/source.list

Your other two questions I don't understand. "what are some good FTP's for file" Are you asking what is a good ftp application?

browncow · 05-24-2005, 08:30 PM

no sorry for the lack of proper english.
What i meant to say is is, what are some good sources for the apt-get source list.

browncow · 05-24-2005, 08:33 PM

I used
sudo vi /etc/apt/source.list
to try and edit the list. But it brings up a page the looks similair to this....

~
~
~

I am sorry for my noobness but i really want to learn this.
If it is easier jsut point me to some good refernce material.

browncow · 05-24-2005, 09:00 PM

w00t w00t.
Problem solved.

Instead of vi i used the gnome text editor.
Worked a lot better.
But thanks for the input.

speel · 05-24-2005, 09:17 PM

.. or just use synaptic to edit your sources

piratu · 05-25-2005, 03:42 PM

I have a question, how do I change the root's password or hwo do I found it?

I've installed a kubuntu and shocked : it demands me a root password when launching synaptic, but it never prompted me to type it when I've installed it!

what is this distro, a bad joke or what?

how can I type "su -" and do my little dirty jobs as root?

musicman_ace · 05-25-2005, 03:51 PM

When you type sudo and a command, it asks for your user password, not roots. You can't find out roots password, but you can change it. type sudo passwd root it will ask for your user's password and then ask you to input Root's new password.

piratu · 05-25-2005, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by musicman_ace
When you type sudo and a command, it asks for your user password, not roots. You can't find out roots password, but you can change it. type sudo passwd root it will ask for your user's password and then ask you to input Root's new password.

whow, shut me dead! is the first time I'm seeing this! ok, got the point about that sudo command, I never used it because there are cases when sudo doesn't work and you have to be root (... few years from now, I forgot that sudo really existed)

now, typing sudo ... helps you doing things as root (but you're not root, just gives you root's rights for the typed command with sudo), means that you're obliged to change thr root password to be able to run synaptic and other graphic config toos, isn't it?

musicman_ace · 05-25-2005, 06:40 PM

I guess I don't understand your question.

If you don't know root's password, just change it like I said above. Once that is done, you can type su and then enter the root password that you just changed. You will then be logged in as root. If you want to log in to Gnome/KDE as root, there are guides out there, but since that is the most destructive thing to do, I don't advise it.