su : initgroups: Operation not permitted

Jskill007 · 08-21-2004, 03:30 PM

Hello I am running Slackware 10. When I am logged in as a normal user and try to use "su" I receive the following error. I have no idea how to fix this. I am entering the correct password, but it still does not alow me to become root.

jskill007@Jskill007:~$ su
Password:
initgroups: Operation not permitted
jskill007@Jskill007:~$

b0uncer · 08-21-2004, 03:38 PM

ok just a guess, but is the user you do this as, in the group that is allowed to su to root? I am not sure which group it is...wheel maybe...check out

/etc/group

for info on what groups different users are, and edit that file to test...

btmiller · 08-21-2004, 04:05 PM

By default, most Linux distros do not require you to be a member of a particular group to su to root, but perhaps you've turned that on somehow? Do you use PAM on your system (Slackware doesn't by default)? If you are, check out the rules in /etc/pam.d/su and see if there's something there. Another idea: make sure that the SUID bit is set on your su executable, permissions on /bin/su should be -rws--x--x root root.