Hi

I didn't forget my root password, I just want to change it after using the same password for years.

What is the proper protocol? Should I change my root password in single user mode by booting into single user mode or change my root password in the current runlevel my system is booted at?

Thanks

I guess my question is too advance for the LQ community here to answer.

I will use single user mode

just change it like you wound any user

1 members found this post helpful.

It's quite common not to get answers to questions that are also so simple anyone could find the answer with a 5 second google search. Threads like that go days without a reply and usually never get replies. People here value effort instead of the quick fix. Speaking from personal experience of looking for a quick fix instead of doing my own research.

Also insulting the community by calling your question to hard is wrong as well. The people here are volunteers with lives to live. They do this in their spare time, they don't sit there all day refreshing the browser to answer questions immediately. Generally give it 24 hours before anything else.

3 members found this post helpful.

I did not ask how to change my password. I know how to do that. I was asking if I need to be in single user mode to change the root password or if it's ok to do it at the current runlevel I'm in.

I see no reason to go into single user mode.

You will need the old password, and need to have root privs, so there is no additional safety to be gained.

jmgibson1981's point was valid. Everyone here volunteers their time of course, and each individual decides how to apply it, which posts to answer and which to skip in their time available. There is always the expectation that we have done our own searches before asking others for help. Please do not think that to be unfriendly or unwelcoming!

Welcome to LQ!

1 members found this post helpful.

Also, jenkins123, your first post was made at 17:39 and your second one was not quite an hour later.

As my own general rule, when I post a Linux Question, I usually wait 24 hours before I check for an answer, because I know it takes a while for a willing volunteer to stumble over it and choose to answer it.

Patience is a virtue, even in the virtual world.

2 members found this post helpful.

Hi jenkins123 and welcome to LQ.

There's no harm in trying that, and it would work fine, allowing you to change your root password. To be clear, I have the opinion that at a command prompt if not root, you could type "su" and the existing root password at the next prompt, to become root and then issue the "passwd" command to change your password.

Sorry you feel there was indifference, what others are saying, which is that not everyone is on call here, waiting with catlike readiness to answer questions. Sometimes there may be a surprisingly fast response, and sometimes there may be a delay, and I feel that it is reasonable to wait about a day to see if anyone has any recommendations. Meanwhile you may self-resolve, and that is fine, we're all hoping that people who post questions are not simply asking for quick, simple answers, but instead working to learn continually. Myself I have started some questions and then never posted them because in my efforts to write a clear question and describe my situation, I had a moment where I realized the solution.

Best of luck and looking forward to any future questions or posts you may have.

If you feel that this problem is solved, then please mark the thread as solved (using the Thread Tools in the page) and it likely will help a future searcher of this very same question.

So true, so true - been there done that (as it were) more than once

1 members found this post helpful.

Agree to this one, i was in the same boat quite a few times. I guess writing a question is a therapy to find a solution also.

I usually end up writing the question, posting it, then at times almost immediately after posting it. I end up figuring out the answer in post posting, afterwords.

Also, be very mindful of the fact that the root user is not the only way to gain "rootly privileges." (In fact, on many systems, that user-id is simply disabled.)

On most Linux systems, if you are a member of the wheel group (as in: "s/he's a 'big wheel' around here ..."), you can become root simply by entering sudo su and entering your own(!) login password.

This, of course, is why you should never use any user-id which is a member of this group, unless you are performing system maintenance. "Your every-day userid" should not be Billy Batson. Thus, if someone tricks you into saying, "Shazam!" ... and they very-easily could ... absolutely nothing should happen.