Linux Ubuntu 7.04 Server : Activating root user

[b4u]

Hi,

I'm a new linux user, and I'm looking into building a linux server box.

I've just installed Linux 7.04 Server distro, and it all went well. On installation, I created the user "personal" with password "personal". This is my test installation, so I can start learning and crashing OS at will 🙂.

I login using personal/personal, and all goes well. Then I want to do something that requires root user, so I need to activate it.

How can I do it?

Googling around, I found the following command:

sudo passwd root

The result follows:

personal@ubuntu:/$ sudo passwd root
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:_

I've tried inserting a new password (like "password123"), or the password for the logged in user "personal", but still no result.

Can anyone explain this results to me?

Thanks.

 

[nweaver]

you don't "activate" that account.

Sudo is "Super User do" or, do it like a superuser. When you typ sudo, it's going to prompt you for YOUR password. You then type that in, and the command will process.

In that example. "sudo passwd root" you will type in your password, and then it proceeds to run "passwd root" with root privliges, changing roots password, so then you enter the desired password twice.

I would say, DON'T ACTIVATE ROOT. There is no need, and there is a reason that they have it deactivated. It's one of the better security measures in place. Use SUDO instead (you can sudo every command that you need to run as root) or get a root shell by running sudo /bin/bash (although that's pretty much as dangerous as just using the root account).

I don't know what guide you are using that tells you to use root, but it's probably a bad idea, and I would find another guide. Remember, Linux works with regular users much better then Windows does "Limited" users.

 

[Brazen]

when you use the 'sudo' command in Ubuntu, it asks you for your password so you need to use the password for the currently logged in user.

As mweaver said, there is really no need to activate the root account in Ubuntu (and there may even be more to it than just assigning a password). Just prefix any commands that are supposed to be "run as root" with 'sudo'. However, in the case of the command you typed above: 'sudo passwd root', you need to type in "personal" (the password you stated for the "personal" user) at the 'Password:' prompt, and THEN it will allow you to set the root password.

 

[Nothinman]

I would say, DON'T ACTIVATE ROOT. There is no need, and there is a reason that they have it deactivated. It's one of the better security measures in place. Use SUDO instead (you can sudo every command that you need to run as root) or get a root shell by running sudo /bin/bash (although that's pretty much as dangerous as just using the root account).

Frankly I don't see the security benefits for a single machine, especially since sudo remembers that you typed your password and will execute commands as root without any prompts for a period of time. For giving people root access for one or two things without giving them the root password it's great, but that's a non-issue on a single user machine.

And you should just run 'sudo -s' to get a root shell.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I would say, DON'T ACTIVATE ROOT. There is no need, and there is a reason that they have it deactivated. It's one of the better security measures in place. Use SUDO instead (you can sudo every command that you need to run as root) or get a root shell by running sudo /bin/bash (although that's pretty much as dangerous as just using the root account).

Frankly I don't see the security benefits for a single machine, especially since sudo remembers that you typed your password and will execute commands as root without any prompts for a period of time. For giving people root access for one or two things without giving them the root password it's great, but that's a non-issue on a single user machine.

And you should just run 'sudo -s' to get a root shell.

I actually think it's a nice default for a "noob" friendly distro. It teaches them why not to run as root. Compare that to Linspire. Last time I installed that for a test, it dropped me to a GUI with no warning/message/password logged in as root.

 

[b4u]

Worked nicelly! 🙂

I don't really want to login as root, nor use the su command. But if sudo will run the command with root priviledges, why is there the need for a root anyway? And about permissions, a user must belong to some group to be able to use sudo and execute a command as super user, what group is that?

 

[Nothinman]

I actually think it's a nice default for a "noob" friendly distro. It teaches them why not to run as root.

Actually I think this thread is proof that it doesn't teach the why about it at all. =)