[SOLVED] Recompile vbox kernel

th1bill · 03-08-2012, 04:30 AM

I am an Ubuntu user setting an old PIII up for a friend and have installed Mepis 8.0.15. When I type ¨sudo su" and give it the password it tells me I"m not authorized. I an not seem to find the documentation to solve this and he wants windoze on vbox.

Help please.

Doc CPU · 03-08-2012, 05:20 AM

Hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by th1bill

I am an Ubuntu user setting an old PIII up for a friend and have installed Mepis 8.0.15. When I type "sudo su" and give it the password it tells me I'm not authorized.

issuing "sudo su" is a double shot that doesn't make sense, AFAIS.

Use "sudo command" to gain administrative privileges for running that single command. To do that, you have to re-enter your own password.

Use "su" to start a new shell under a new username, typically root. In that case, you have to enter the root password.

Using your combination would mean you first acquire root privileges for yourself temporarily, and use these elevated privileges to issue the "su" command. As far as I can tell, you should be prompted for a password twice - first for your own (by sudo), and then root's (by su).

One of these two should be sufficient.

[X] Doc CPU

th1bill · 03-08-2012, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc CPU

Hi there,

issuing "sudo su" is a double shot that doesn't make sense, AFAIS.

Use "sudo command" to gain administrative privileges for running that single command. To do that, you have to re-enter your own password.

Use "su" to start a new shell under a new username, typically root. In that case, you have to enter the root password.

Using your combination would mean you first acquire root privileges for yourself temporarily, and use these elevated privileges to issue the "su" command. As far as I can tell, you should be prompted for a password twice - first for your own (by sudo), and then root's (by su).

One of these two should be sufficient.

[X] Doc CPU

Alright, in Ubuntu one must "sudo su" and enter the password to be the duperuser. I used the su in mepis ad ws then allowed to run "/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" but received the message that it failed. I did download the Debian Lenny version and it installed just fine but for the driver. I have done a reinstall with the same result.

Thanks for the assist and here's hoping you have theanswer for this issue.

Doc CPU · 03-08-2012, 10:41 AM

Hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by th1bill

Alright, in Ubuntu one must "sudo su" and enter the password to be the duperuser.

no, that's not true. I've been using Ubuntu occasionally since 7.04, and regularly since 9.04, and I've never used sudo and su together. A simple sudo (plus my own user password) was all I ever needed.
Sometimes I opened a root console from the GUI menu (that's done with gksu) and was really root then. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's funny that this worked with my regular user password, not root's. Mint behaves exactly the same, by the way, which is not all that surprising. After all, Mint is a sibling of Ubuntu.

Quote:

Originally Posted by th1bill

I used the su in mepis ad ws then allowed to run "/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" but received the message that it failed.

Why did it fail? What did the message say? Was it because of insufficient access rights? Probably not. So we shouldn't focus on access rights issues, but rather on the real problem that you didn't describe clear enough. Anyway, though you said something like "not authorized", I can't imagine it's a matter of access rights. There must be something else about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by th1bill

I did download the Debian Lenny version and it installed just fine but for the driver. I have done a reinstall with the same result.

You didn't use your distro's package manager?

[X] Doc CPU

th1bill · 03-08-2012, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc CPU

Hi there,

no, that's not true. I've been using Ubuntu occasionally since 7.04, and regularly since 9.04, and I've never used sudo and su together. A simple sudo (plus my own user password) was all I ever needed.
Sometimes I opened a root console from the GUI menu (that's done with gksu) and was really root then. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's funny that this worked with my regular user password, not root's. Mint behaves exactly the same, by the way, which is not all that surprising. After all, Mint is a sibling of Ubuntu.

Why did it fail? What did the message say? Was it because of insufficient access rights? Probably not. So we shouldn't focus on access rights issues, but rather on the real problem that you didn't describe clear enough. Anyway, though you said something like "not authorized", I can't imagine it's a matter of access rights. There must be something else about it.

You didn't use your distro's package manager?

[X] Doc CPU

Doc,
I might be to old to turn a computer on at 67 but at least I haven been stupid enough to call you a liar. I've been playing at this since the mid-seventies and I only install Mepis on units so old that Ubuntu will not go on them. You need to read what I said, in it's context and learn the lesson I learned as a non-com lifer in the Army, getting arrogant just pisses people off.

I fixed the issue without your input.

Doc CPU · 03-09-2012, 03:35 AM

Hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by th1bill

I might be to old to turn a computer on at 67 but at least I haven been stupid enough to call you a liar.

neither have I, because telling a lie implies knowing it isn't right. Telling something wrong by mistake or due to lack of detail knowledge isn't lying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by th1bill

I've been playing at this since the mid-seventies and I only install Mepis on units so old that Ubuntu will not go on them.

Granted. But you were the one who said the "sudo su" combination was necessary in Ubuntu, and that's just wrong. And based on the very uncommon usage of the two as a pair, I misjudged your knowledge as "average or below". My apologies for that. Hence the lengthy clarification in my first reply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by th1bill

You need to read what I said, in it's context and learn the lesson I learned as a non-com lifer in the Army, getting arrogant just pisses people off.

I've taken into account all there was in terms of context. And I've been friendly and decent all the time.

[X] Doc CPU