Hello all, am new to Linux and very new to Ubuntu.
Just to get the ball rolling I want to log on as root to change the delay time on the GRUB screen [fil eis read only].
There is a ROOT User but all I get when I try to Log On as root is I am 'logging on at the wrong screen' - there is no reference to the correct screen !
Can someone help a newbie please ? Thanks.

Ubuntu does not enable root logins by default. You have to use sudo as a normal user e.g.
You can enable the root account by doing

Ubuntu is a little different than other distros. There is a root user, but the system comes set up so you do not have to log on as root to do root things.

To do root functions, use the command 'sudo command' where command is the thing you want to do. Since you want to edit the menu.lst file with an editor, run 'sudo gedit' ( with out quotes ) and this will prompt you for the root password, and launch the editor gedit as root. Then you can open the file and edit it. Use any editor you like, I just used gedit as an example.

It is possible to change the behavior of Ubuntu so you can 'su' and password to root. It has been a while since I did it, so I would have to look up how. There is a how-to on Ubuntu's forum.

Just one question.

At the place where one logs in, it says "Root logins not allowed". Are these commands used to change this...

OR

Are these commands to log into root, through the console/terminal, under a normal user's interface...?

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I would really love to login into root without the console/terminal and change the rights of writing into '/var/cache/apt/archives',

so that I don't have to type in the names of all the 100's of just cuz I don't have internet on my linux PC at home!
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You still wouldn't need to log into Root to do that.

From command line:

sudo chmod 755 -R /var/cache/apt/archives

-R is a recurssive command, that applies to all files and folders under that directory.

So... What your telling me is that, if I want right to everything:

I should not look for a way to get the root login to work...

but

To use instead?

Conceieveably you could do it. but doing would only make Folders and Files directly under "/" 755. For example a file in this directory /folder/hello.txt would still be at it's origional setting, while the folder would be at 755.

I would not enable the root login, as it just creates a huge security hole IMO.

First of all, the command does not do what you want to use it for. For some commands you need root privileges. Making the files executable for everybody does not give everybody root privileges. So the command is useless in this case (in my opinion) and dangerous (see below).
Just use sudo; to get more permanent root privileges (for a number of commands), I think that you can use (although I have never used it).
One of the posts above showed the command to enable the root account. I've enabled my root account although I mostly use sudo.
Note that it only enables the account so you can login in a terminal or so you can use su - to gain root privileges. It will however not allow login as root in GDM/KDM; there is an additional setting in one of the config files to allow that. For security reasons this is not advisable.
Also, you can not execute commands with a graphical interface as root (you will get a message that you don't own the screen (or something similar)).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt if that's the case. It makes everything executable by everybody; the -R option makes it recursive.

And that is NOT what one wants; it even makes documents and images executable without any reason (and is dangerous as it might be a text file just containing a command to delete everything).

PS: The syntax is wrong as far as I know. The -R should go directly after the command.

The -R recurssive option, only works for Files and Folders directly under the defined path.

Correct you would never want to do chmod 755 -R /. It is conceiveably possible, but not something you want to do. where as if you need to make something readable in Apache/PERL/CGI then the -R comnnad helps.

as well in all my exmaples i had advised him to use sudo chmod 755 -R you seem to have flipped the -R and 755 around

I think the confusion comes from the position of the -R. I assumed it was a mistake.
So please explain what your version of the command is supposed to do and where I can find info about it; I don't see it in the man page.

your right it is chmod -R xxx I was mistaken, thinking way ahead of myself

ok, things were getting confusing there.

If you want to login as root on Ubuntu, where the root account is disabled by default, do

sudo su root

to set root's password.

Then use the account. If you want to disable it again, do

sudo pico /etc/passwd

And set the login shell (listed toward the end of the list there, probably /bin/sh) to something that obviously does not exist (like /bin/nologin) or something. Then it will not be possible to

su - or login as root

because there is no login terminal specified. You can also take a look at the entries for various system daemon users that are not allowed login, it is either ! or * in the second item in /etc/shadow. A line for a normal user would look like:

user:-A2fb96+45Jd:501:501::::: or something similar. The first unintelligible string is the encrypted password. You would delete this if you wanted the user to create his own password after logging into his account with a blank one, or set it to ! or * to disable his login; just do this for that root user you need to disable.

It is possible when running as a normal user to run applications with root permissions. I run konsole and konqueror all the time as root. Use the "Run Application..." or similar dialog (Alt+F2 default shortcut), enter the application name, and specify in the options to run as another user. Your windowing environment will render that app with all of that user's settings (like if you set the bgcolor to red for the super users file manager or something, only that super user file manager will be red when you run it in your normal session), and with that user's permissions. You will be required to provide a password.

Hope that helps!

I will summarize the situation as follow

(1) Use sudo

There is a lot a user can do by prefix privileged commands with "sudo" in Ubuntu.

(2) To activate root user account permanently in a Ubuntu terminal.

Ubuntu has a root account but does not allow access during installation. In post installation an ordinary user can change the root's password and the way to do it is like reddazz indicated in Post #2. Yes it is strange isn't it? but it is true Thereafter the user can always type "su" at the terminal to become the root user. He/she is still denied from log in as root to the desktop though.

(3) To log in as root to the desktop (the ultimate)

An ordinary user can edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf by changing the line
to
Thereafter he/she can log in as root to the desktop just like the other Linux.

Therefore YES! you can do whatever you want in Ubuntu BUT that is not what Ubuntu wants. Ubuntu makes its distro different because log in as an ordinary user is the most secure way to operate a Linux because the files ownership will prevent any attack to the root system. If everybody log in as root then the Linux will end up like a MS Windoze getting infected and attacked constantly.

I happen to agree.

And if I may say so how mature you are in Linux can be measured by how much you need to be in root. So distant yourself from the root user whenever possible unless you have a need and do not know the other way.

In which case I like to make clear that it will set the permissions for all directories and files under the specified directory.

To prevent mistakes, it's safer to use sudo -l to lock the account again.

That's why I did not want to explain what needed to be changed. Maybe a bit childish or selfish.

Finally! the answer I was lookin for.. I got linux so I can learn how it works, inside-out.. It's the same way ppl can learn Windoz easy.. Once I know how to use it, only then is security an issue.. Thanks for freeing 'us' from the darkness!