How can I get root user privileges at startup?

lyberrian · 05-19-2007, 01:08 PM

I think a problem exists in the Samsung .ppd files for color laser printers. I need to modify the .ppd file for my printer. But when I modify the file using sudo and vi, I cannot save it. Neither can I reinstall the driver from the cd-rom. Both operations require root user privileges. I can acquire these temporarily in "terminal," but I want to log in (to the GUI) as a root user. The GUI is gnome. Please respond with simple, sequential instructions, as I do not understand the Unix operating system. Thanks.

General Failure · 05-19-2007, 01:20 PM

You can run programs as root while logged in as user by pressing alt-f2 and typing

Code:

gksu programname

This will prompt you for the root password and run the program as root.

You might want to type gksu gedit for example.

Besides that, it is generally not advisable to log on graphically as root because -- for example -- a false mouse click can make the system unbootable.

@er<> · 05-19-2007, 01:24 PM

Some distros you can directly type "root" and root password into the initial login. If this does not work another way to get a write protected file to be able to edit it is the chmod command. The easiest one is type: chmod a+w /path/filename.ext. This will change the file to write mode and enable you to edit in a text editor such as kate. Hope this helps.

Junior Hacker · 05-19-2007, 03:13 PM

What distribution are you using?
If you are running something in the Ubuntu family, you have to precede your commands with sudo to get temporary root privileges.