Linked Questions

11 votes
1 answer
61k views

Difference between su and sudo su [duplicate]

Asking because of curiosity. :) When I type sudo su It asks for my user password. And when I type just su It asks for the root user password. But both the commands directs me to the root ...
Anonymous Platypus's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
31k views

what is the sudo -i command [duplicate]

What does the sudo -i command do and in which situations would it be used. read it using the man sudo command but i'm looking for a more diluted discription to help me understand better.
user259487's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is the difference between sudo -i and sudo -s? [duplicate]

I am a new Ubuntu user and find some people tell me to use sudo -i to get root and others tell me to use sudo -s. What is the difference? Which one do I use and when?
user2156473's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
3k views

Difference between `sudo su` and `sudo fish` [duplicate]

I am running fish (Friendly Interactive Shell) as my standard shell in Ubuntu 14.04, rather than bash. I noticed the following behaviour and don't know, if any of these are the preferred one to gain ...
uloco's user avatar
  • 394
-1 votes
2 answers
3k views

difference between sudo su - and su - [duplicate]

I have tried in Google but couldn't get exactly what I need. Could somebody explain the difference between sudo su - & su - Thank you.
Raja G's user avatar
  • 102k
4 votes
2 answers
3k views

What is the difference between sudo -i and su? [duplicate]

It seems as if there is no difference whatsoever. When the whoami or id commands are run, they all yield root credentials. Is this an illusion? If the root account is disabled by default in Ubuntu, ...
user161589's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

accessing Root shell [duplicate]

I'm able to access the root shell via the following commands: sudo -i sudo su (after providing the user password) or su (after providing the root password) What is the difference between them? I ...
DabinIch's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
938 views

What is sudo -i [duplicate]

What does this command? sudo -i? I'm not sure if I should have made a post with just this question, but since I'm a Linux newbie and I have a lot more questions and doubts, I decided to go ahead and ...
Aryetsok's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
327 views

Sudo and su simultaneously? [duplicate]

To switch between users sometimes sudo su newuser is used. What is meaning of sudo su together? Can anyone tell exactly how they both command together work?
Ryuzaki 's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
67 views

distinction between different "types" of root access in bash? [duplicate]

What's the distincton between: sudo su - and su -i and where would one be preferred over the other? -, -l, --login Start the shell as a login shell with an environment similar to a ...
Nicholas Saunders's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
36 views

Bash - reload profile or bashrc when switching to root [duplicate]

Just moved over to ubuntu land from fedora (wanted try the budgie build). I'm fed land I had a script (from Fedy - posted below.) that changed my prompt to red when I logged into the root shell with ...
the_frank's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
34 views

Ubuntu User Differences [duplicate]

When i open the terminal and type su XXXXX where terminal open in the name of XXXXX , it ask for password and switched. Am i not already there in the first place when i opened the terminal? So ...
parlad's user avatar
  • 229
0 votes
0 answers
18 views

Meaning of bash prompts [duplicate]

Trying a VPS (hosting). I have installed Ubuntu 16.04 and created a user admin. Now I'm trying: ssh [email protected] The prompt becomes just a $. I try: sudo su root The prompt has become ...
Michael's user avatar
  • 553
320 votes
2 answers
471k views

'sudo su -' vs 'sudo -i' vs 'sudo /bin/bash' - when does it matter which is used, or does it matter at all?

When I'm doing something that requires root be typed in dozens of times in a row, I prefer to switch my session to a root session. In the various tutorials and instructions I have used on the Internet,...
Paul's user avatar
  • 4,511
20 votes
7 answers
7k views

Why is a user with root privileges not in ~ anymore?

Just out of curiosity, I would like to know why, when I log in as root, I am not in /home/user anymore. What's the reason and what does /root directory do exactly? I'm not an advanced user. Please ...
user avatar
48 votes
3 answers
17k views

What are the differences between sudo, su, visudo, chroot, and gksu?

What are the differences between sudo, su, visudo, chroot, and gksu ?
lambda23's user avatar
  • 3,232
16 votes
3 answers
64k views

What's the difference between 'sudo [command]' and 'sudo sh [command]?

I'm trying to install VMware Workstation in my Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS. If I execute the following command: sudo ./VMware-Workstation-9.0.1-894247.x86_64.bundle it finishes at once and the installation ...
Landy's user avatar
  • 163
11 votes
3 answers
250k views

How do I gain root privileges?

How do I gain root privileges in Ubuntu Desktop 12.04? I installed to a USB stick to try it out. Now when I installed it on a VM, I don't have the same options as I did on the USB stick, such as ...
Nate Allen's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
36k views

Does executing sudo su and su root do the same thing?

What are the technical differences between the two? The only thing I noticed is that sudo su requires you to enter your own password (assuming you're not root) While su root requires you to ...
user784637's user avatar
  • 10.9k
10 votes
3 answers
116k views

How do I become a "superuser"?

The following command fails with an error: $ dpkg -i libmotif*i386.deb dpkg: error: requested operation requires superuser privilege How do I become a superuser? I thought I was the superuser?
Lasse Karagiannis's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
9k views

Unable to login to super user from normal user [duplicate]

I have installed ubuntu 11.10 with no problem. But after login as a normal user, I am unable to switch to super user(using "su" command). Its showing "Authentication failure" plz help me..
Santosh's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
2 answers
4k views

Can't run apps without sudo

I do my research and can't find anything useful, maybe I'm using the wrong keywords, nvm. if I try to run spotify for example I got "Unable to initialize the storage of temporary files" error, but if ...
Luis Esteban's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
11k views

Ubuntu 14.04 blank desktop screen after Virtualbox was installed and updated Ubuntu

I have Ubuntu 14.04 installed. It was working fine until I installed Virtualbox, and then without installing any guest OS under Virtual box, ran an system update when prompted by Ubuntu. Now when I ...
David's user avatar
  • 11
0 votes
2 answers
6k views

Why do I get "Authentication Failure"? [duplicate]

I recently installed Ubuntu 12.10. As i started the terminal and ran the command su which we usually use to perform root operations and to get the # symbol. After running the command it asks me to ...
Aashay's user avatar
  • 1
1 vote
1 answer
4k views

Need to copy firmware files at /usr/lib to /lib using terminal

I have a Cubox-i4Pro and I'm running Xubuntu on it. In order to get Wi-Fi working I have to copy the firmware folder "brcm" from /usr/lib/firmware/brcm and make the folder /lib/firmware/brcm. Refer ...
Nathan Morris's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why does whoopsie increasingly take more CPU?

I am running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and I've been following whoopsie with the top program and noticed something strange. In the afternoon the daemon process was only using up to 2% of CPU power. But ...
Gertjan's user avatar
  • 100
-2 votes
1 answer
4k views

Need root privileges to access files on USB flash drive [duplicate]

It wont let me open the flash drive to get the files I need. Anyone know the line of code I need to put me as root. I would like to stay root.
oof off's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
2k views

Now do I get super user privileges?

I am new to Linux so I need to find out how to get super user privileges so I can install Simplify3D? Thanks, Dave
Dave's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
1 answer
880 views

Ubuntu security with services running from /opt

It took me a while to understand what's going on here (I think), but can someone explain to me if there are security risks with regards to my logic of what's going on here as I am trying to set up a ...
thejartender's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

How to create a .bz2 file from a directory without using tar?

I've been searching on the internet and used Archiver to make .bz2 files. My archiving tool only makes tar.bz2 and my game host doesn't read that. It reads .bz2 files only. Is there a way to make a ...
user186144's user avatar
-4 votes
1 answer
654 views

`sudo userx` returns `sudo: userx: command not found` , why?

just installed this Linux disto ver 13.04 installed Xfce 4.0x got it running just fine then for some reason that good'O sudo stopped working all by itself why? I now type in sudo and this is what I ...
user198193's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
346 views

using ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS version vikas@vikas-X542UQ:~$ apt --fix-broken install E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend

Problem facing in sudo apt-get update tried sudo -s apt-get update apt-get upgrade then facing problem The following packages have unmet dependencies: The following packages have unmet dependencies: ...
Vikas M.'s user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
161 views

how do I install myself as owner in 14.04? [duplicate]

How do I install myself as owner? The system keeps telling me I'm not authorized. I put in my profile but that didn't seem to do anything.
user305839's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
69 views

Command "sudo su" is not working [duplicate]

By mistake my bashrc has changed (using source command to a .com file). Now sudo su command is not working. To use root I have to give bash command. How can I return previous stage? Or use sudo su?
Anup Paul's user avatar