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This is really annoying, with Windows it would ask whether you give permission for it to make changes to your hard drive. This is even more annoying as when I install a program, it asks me to type in my password.

Why does it do this?? Clearly it is me and my computer so why on earth does it prompt me for my password every time, it is so utterly annoying. Is there a way to turn it off so it doesn't prompt me every time?

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    The password behaviour is part of the way that a Linux system, such as Ubuntu, remains secure. When it's asking for a password the sudo mechanism is being used. Search about sudo and you should come to understand it quickly. As for your side question, this is a Stack Exchange, question and answer site, questions get marked as duplicate so that people can be directed to the best answer possible, rather than having loads of exactly the same question, with differing answers of variable levels of quality.
    – Arronical
    Nov 11, 2015 at 17:26
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    Voting to close this as too broad, please only ask questions on one thing per question. If you have a question about this site rather than Ubuntu then you should ask it on Ask Ubuntu Meta.
    – user364819
    Nov 11, 2015 at 17:28
  • Possible duplicate of How to enable root login?
    – Arronical
    Nov 11, 2015 at 17:28

2 Answers 2

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I do not know why everyone is downvoting, it is a valid question, I gave you an upvote.

Linux is not windows and a number of features are different. You will probably have better luck if you ask about Ubuntu and drop the comparison to windows.

At any rate, this is an important security feature (sudo) see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo for general information.

If you find the "time out" annoying, you can configure sudo to not use a time out.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo#Reset_sudo_timeout

which links to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudoTimeout

As this is an important security feature, I prefer you read the links and ask questions, thank you.

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  • But it has been asked several times before. OP clearly hasn't done homework before posting. IOW, "this question doesn't show any research effort".
    – DK Bose
    Nov 11, 2015 at 18:09
  • @DKBose - So close it as a dup, no real need for a downvote, IMO at least, frightens the new users (s/he is just frustrated).
    – Panther
    Nov 11, 2015 at 18:19
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Windows users can have administrator privileges on their accounts by default, which allows modifications to system files.

Linux does not allow users to be "administrators" (called the root user in Linux). This is strictly a security measure to prevent downloaded files and programs from being able to modify system files and infect the entire computer. This means that the malicious program can only infect on a user-basis and not all users on the system.

You can read more about root privileges here: http://www.linfo.org/root.html

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  • Why not use the Ubuntu documentation when available? It is more Ubuntu specific ;) Ubuntu wiki foo ; askubuntu.com bar , etc THis site works by improving answers (dups) rather then repetition, so search is good.
    – Panther
    Nov 11, 2015 at 17:40
  • @bodhi.zazen True, but the privileges system is not just specific to Ubuntu. It's a feature embedded in the Linux kernal itself, so it applies to all distributions of Linux.
    – user470880
    Nov 11, 2015 at 17:46
  • @bodhi.zazen True, but ubuntu cares for even the noobest among the users. That's why at the time of installation, you have a checkbox that says "Automatically login using this password" or something like that! You can get a 100% password-free experience if you want that. Nov 11, 2015 at 17:58
  • OK, just asking ;) For new users I usually suggest the distro specific documentation as a first step, more general on other stack exchange sites
    – Panther
    Nov 11, 2015 at 18:07

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