Hello forum,

Can anyone please tell me how to configure Linux (Mandriva 2006) so that it will offer the option to boot into the root of the graphical desktop enviroment at the password prompt?

I find this option useful to me because I can perform many operations such as drag and drop from one folder to another that would otherwise be restricted, without having to use the terminal window's command line.

I once enabled this option in Mandriva 10.1 but I can't seem to be able to do it with Mandriva 2006.

Thanks much in advance,
Roy S. Smith

I'm not familiar with Mandriva, but it really depends on whether it's using kdm or gdm. There's usually an option somewhere about allowing root log-in.

That being said, this is a VERY bad idea. You're opening up your box to all sorts of bad things.

It's far better to su, do what you need to do if it's something that needs root access, and then exit back to normal user.

What folders or functions can't you access as normal user? You can always change permissions or make sure your user is in the right groups.

Logging in as root is just bad.

Thanks masonm,

Since you asked what type of operation do I need to perform while in the root of the graphical desktop enviroment, I'll be glad to tell you, maybe you can help me with my present problem.

One of my USB hard drives has a padlock on its folder in the mnt directory meaning I get a message saying I don't have permission to open the file (the contents of the USB hard drive). But the other USB hard drive opens okay and does not have a padlock on its folder.

I was thinking that if I could boot into the root of the graphical desktop, I would be at a better advantage to tweak some settings without getting the "not allowed" message.

I've already posted this hard drive problem in the hardware section of this forum but I couldn't really understand the solution that was offered me because I still consider myself a newbee with Linux even though I have had it for years.

I found the problem USB hard drive in the "change hardware" section of "configure my computer" program and I put a check in the box where it says "unmask=0022" to give read access to ordinary users and I saved it to fstab but it did not stick - the next time I rebooted, the check mark was gone again.

I also set custom ownership permissions for both the mnt folder and the USB hard drive using msec but that did not work either.

I just can't seem to remove the padlock from this folder. Note that this USB drive can indeed be accessed if I open it in root but I don't want to go to root to be able to access it.

Do you think you can help me?

Thanks much in advance,
Roy S. Smith