Root is the superuser of Ubuntu. Questions about the / or /root folder are better suited for the "filesystem" tag.
54
votes
17answers
5k views
Why is it bad to run as root?
I've often come across posts on forums or other websites where you see people joking in such a manner about running/logging in as root as if it's something awful and everyone ought to know about it. ...
17
votes
10answers
23k views
How do I recover my root password?
I'm trying to install netbeans IDE in my Ubuntu and in the process its asking for my root password which i don't remember ?
I know my sudo user password. How can I recover my root password ? Please ...
14
votes
2answers
8k views
How do I boot into a root shell?
When booting to the graphical desktop fails we sometimes are recommended to boot into a "root shell" or to boot in "recovery mode".
How do I do that?
31
votes
9answers
11k views
What is the difference between “gksudo nautilus” and “sudo nautilus”?
I've been using gksudo nautilus and sudo nautilus through Alt+F2.
What's the difference? They look very similar!
22
votes
14answers
5k views
Why is there no option to login as root?
Why does Ubuntu not allow the GUI users to login as root at the time of system start up like administrator in Windows?
Why they are restricting us to login only through the terminal?
16
votes
7answers
22k views
How do I get permissions to edit system configuration files?
I can't seem to edit and save config files in the root system (eg: /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.config); it just says "permission denied" or the save option is blocked in the text editor.
I'm pretty sure I'm a ...
16
votes
6answers
13k views
How to enable root login?
I would like to enable the root account on my Ubuntu installation.
I realize the security implications of this.
6
votes
6answers
2k views
What are the benefits of sudo over su?
What is the actual benefit that ubuntu (or debian derivatives) achieve by disabling root user.
Everywhere I read, its says to prevent unintentional damages for inexperienced users.
I want to know ...
5
votes
6answers
55k views
“No root file system defined” error while installing ubuntu
I am new to linux/ ubuntu and just downloaded the v11 of ubuntu to learn linux. I faced this "No root file system is defined" error while trying to install it. This is how I was proceeding -
...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Regain Sudo rights after removing from admin group [duplicate]
I accidentally removed myself from the admin group when editing the user. Now I can no longer use sudo. The error says: ber is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
I booted up ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
How do I open Deja Dup as root?
I wanted to backup /var/cache/apt/archives using 'Deja Dup' but it keeps saying >>
Could not backup the following files. Please make sure you are able to open them.
...
25
votes
5answers
2k views
Why is gksu no longer installed by default in 13.04?
I have always recommended pressing ALT+F2 and typing for example gksu nautilus or gksudo nautilus both are equivalent; to run graphical programs with root privileges. However, I have just installed ...
3
votes
2answers
27k views
How do I login as root?
I want to login as root, but when I enter
sudo -s
and enter password, this message is shown: "you are not in sudoers file", and when I enter
su
and enter password, this is shown: ...
24
votes
3answers
3k views
When to use pkexec vs. gksu/gksudo?
There are two general ways to run applications graphically as root (or, more generally, as another user). Programs like gksu, gksudo, and kdesudo are graphical frontends for sudo. In contrast, pkexec ...
12
votes
1answer
1k views
Why do I have low FPS unless root?
Problem:
Normal users aren't using the best graphics driver. I first noticed this playing Osmos from the HumbleBundle2, but I can observe it while running glxgears too. Maximised on a 1280x1024, ...
4
votes
3answers
4k views
How to fix sudo after “chmod -R 777 /usr/bin”?
I enetered chmod -R 777 /usr/bin and now sudo is not working.
It is giving error that sudo must be setuid root.
On looking via Google, some advice said to run chown root:root /usr/bin/sudo
chmod ...
25
votes
4answers
18k views
How are administrators supposed to read root's mail?
What is the Ubuntu way for system administrators to receive system notifications, which typically take the form of e-mail sent to the root account?
Examples of such notifications are the output of ...
23
votes
5answers
2k views
How to NOT become a root user? Are administrators root?
I installed Ubuntu on my PC. To log in, I use the username and password I created during installation. Does this mean I am a root user? If yes, then how do I become non-root? It looks like non-root ...
5
votes
1answer
4k views
ROOT_MISMATCH error after following FAQ directions
While using Ubuntu One in 11.04 I am unable to change my account info. When I made the switch to 11.04 I forgot that I already had an Ubuntu One account so, I made a new one. However, upon going ...
4
votes
3answers
8k views
“You are not the owner…” message when trying to access folder
In the properties menu of this folder the permission is set to "root" user and group, it shows the message "you are not the owner, so you cannot change these permissions."
I am indeed the owner and ...
22
votes
7answers
58k views
How to resize a ext4 root partition at runtime?
How to increase the size of the root partition of a system a runtime? I have a partition that is not allocated after the root partition (which is in ext4), how can I add it to root without having to ...
16
votes
2answers
13k views
How can I install a package without root access?
I have no root access on this machine.
I would like to know if there is a way I can download Ubuntu packages and install them as non-root?
Probably in my ~/bin or ~/usr/share or something like that? ...
5
votes
3answers
17k views
How to run a .run file as root?
I downloaded a .run file for a Nvidia driver, but when I run it in the terminal it tells me it must be run as root.
I'm a complete noob and I barely even know what root is. I think it's somewhere ...
2
votes
2answers
439 views
what happens if all users are set as standard while root password not set
I don't dare to do as in the title.
So I set root password first with sudo passwd root, and then I change all other users to be standard user, none administrator, so no user can sudo.
If I want to set ...
9
votes
5answers
2k views
Why does Ubuntu force users to create a password upon installation?
There's been one problem I've had since I installed Ubuntu to run alongside Windows, I assume this would also be the same if it was installed to replace the other operating system as well, the ...
1
vote
1answer
160 views
Have put me out of admin
Installed a new user and then tried to create one with the name root, because sudo
nerves. Didnot work and i have learnt in the meantime, this is not possible.
I am now unable to login into user ...
13
votes
3answers
9k views
How do I install a root certificate?
Can anyone point me to a good tutorial on installing a root certificate on ubuntu 10 or 11?
I've been provided with a .crt file. I gather that need to create a directory at ...
2
votes
2answers
3k views
Run apt-get without sudo
This might be a very naive question, but I wanted to know how I could give multiple users access to a single computer without making them root users. How would I give them limitted sudo access such ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
How can a script check if it's being run as root?
I'm writing a simple bash script, but I need it to check whether it's being run as root or not. I know there's probably a very simple way to do that, but I have no idea how.
Just to be clear:
What's ...
8
votes
3answers
309 views
How to recover root user [duplicate]
I have accidentally changed the root user from administrator type to basic type in the user account page, and now i have no whatever root previligaes on the system, how i can switch back to ...
1
vote
4answers
7k views
can't mount ntfs partition without root access
whenever try to mount ntfs partition it says
Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 1: helper failed with:
Unprivileged user can not mount NTFS block devices using the external
FUSE ...
1
vote
1answer
925 views
Ubuntu 11.10 with KDE installed does not prompt for elevation for privileged ops in all apps
I installed the KDE window manager on top of Ubuntu 11.10 and while I am using KDE, I do not get an elevation dialog when I try to perform tasks that require root privileges. Instead, the operations ...
0
votes
3answers
172 views
How can I get root-like permissions so I can download stuff from the software center?
When downloading an application from the terminal it said I couldn't download it because I wasn't root, and when I got to search for the specific software in the Ubuntu software center it doesn't even ...
4
votes
2answers
5k views
How to boot to root shell when GRUB recovery menu fails to load a shell?
Can't seem to boot into root shell in recovery mode from GRUB. I try booting into recovery mode from the GRUB menu and don't ever get a shell, just log messages from the kernel bootup. Ctrl+Alt+F1-F12 ...
3
votes
2answers
600 views
How to hide files and folders in Nautilus?
I want to hide, most of the folders in root (/) using Nautilus. Probably the only folders in / I want shown are /home and /tmp.
In addition to hiding folders, I also want to hide two files: ...
2
votes
1answer
625 views
Setup auto login and now I do not have root authorization for anything
I am the sole user of my computer so I use my root user name for everything. I am tired of logging in all the time and entering a keyring so I was hoping that creating an automatic login would resolve ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
Auto-login to console as root - no Xserver
I'm setting up a PC for a very specific purpose. It's going to do some stuff deep underwater... round about 3km. We don't fear fish hijacking the box locally ;).
I'm trying to set up a login: no ...
0
votes
0answers
498 views
How to run program with non-root user? [closed]
linux force me to run Netbeans by root permission and I don't know why.
I installed it again,but it has got this problem too.
I try to change owner of jvm and netbeans to my user,but the problem ...
0
votes
0answers
115 views
how to back to be the administrator in ubuntu 11.10 [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do I add myself back as a sudo user?
I was exploring in user accounts. I only have my account but i changed from administrator to standart. and I didn't can put to ...
-1
votes
1answer
299 views
How to change owner and permissions of a folder in desktop
The problem is that the folder directory is /home/marek/Desktop/Tekkitserver/3.1.1 and root has all but 5 file ownership and permissions what are inside it.
It all happened after I launched tekkit ...
10
votes
2answers
7k views
How do I run WireShark, with root-privileges?
A standard installation of WireShark doesn't give the program permission to address the network interface. I suppose I have to run the program with SUDO, but do not know how to add it to the icon - if ...
5
votes
1answer
5k views
how to shutdown a linux machine, including the root password, in 1 line?
How do you include the root password, say for shutting down an ubuntu machine?
like,
sudo shutdown now
is it possible to include the password on this 1 line? like an extra parameter?
reason for ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How Do I Stop The Service Sudo?
I want to make it impossible for any root commands to be issued during a Live Boot session. I don't want anyone being able to sign in as root. Period!
So, is it possible to stop the sudo service? ...
3
votes
4answers
4k views
Deleted Myself from Admin Group - Now Getting Error usermod: cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Cannot lock '/etc/group' in recovery mode
I have a laptop with Ubuntu 11.10 that is shared between myself and two other family members. My user id was setup as ...
2
votes
3answers
9k views
How do I set the root password so I can use su instead of sudo? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to know my root password?
Instead of letting you set a password for root during install Ubuntu set it to * for no password and disables the actual account login, ...
1
vote
2answers
157 views
Graphical authentication works; why does sudo say my password is wrong?
I'm trying to install a theme, and when I enter the command sudo cp -r $HOME/Desktop/Overglossed /usr/share/themes the terminal asked for my sudo password which I entered, however I'm told my password ...
9
votes
4answers
10k views
Change owner of internal hard drive partition from root to user
I have a number of drives internal and external. Some are partitioned. Most mount automatically at boot (all did at one point).
One partition is owned by root and therefore does not mount ...
8
votes
3answers
554 views
When Ubuntu asks for an admin user's password, how does it decide which administrative user to ask for?
I am setting up an Ubuntu (10.10) machine that will be used by several people. It is a shared machine in a small office. Its primary roles are hosting virtual machines with VirtualBox and serving ...
7
votes
2answers
5k views
How do I launch a GUI application as root on user login?
I would like to launch a Gnome application with root privileges at login.
I have tried adding a script to launch using update-rc.d myscript.sh defaults.
It looks like the application does launch, ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
How can I become the owner of a file/folder that root owns?
I had a bad habit of storing my wallpapers in /usr/share/backgrounds, and decided to move them all into Pictures. Well, the problem is that most of them are now read-only since they are owned by root. ...
