Enable and Disable Ubuntu Root Password

i am using ubuntu (GUI). i was lost my password. so howto retrive my password. but i now the user name. please help me.

thierry Says
May 8th, 2008 at 9:03 pm

thierry…I just want to say thank you so much from newbie like me, making instructions so clear and direct. I was bale to find it and enable it in Ubuntu OS. thank you so much.

Ubuntu users (and I assume it will work for Debian users too) should use the following command to lock the root account: sudo usermod -p '!' root

On Ubuntu (9.10) you do not have to do this in a terminal.

On the top menu bar click System/Administration/Users and Groups.
In ‘User Settings’ Window select root, and click the keys button (click to make changes).
In ‘Authenticate’ window supply your password and click the Authenticate button.
In ‘User Settings’ window click properties.
In ‘Account Root Properties’ select ‘Account’ tab.
On ‘Account’ tab select ‘Set Password by Hand’.
Enter your password in both the password and confirmation box, and click ok.
In the top right hand corner of the screen, click your user name. From the drop down menu click ‘Switch User’.
On the new login screen click ‘Other’, give user name ‘root’ and enter your password. you are now logged in as root.

Seems a bit weird that a Debian forum is dominated by an ubuntu discourse omg. I often wonder how many Windows(tm) users inadvertently delete their C drives? Not may I would think. The more I poke about in the ubuntu/kubuntu world for research the less I understand it and the less I like it. The reason is this. In a perfect world new linux users would be buying pre installed dedicated linux comp. For most users that would give them an experience parallel to their purchasing habits of other proprietary systems. But they don’t. What they do is want to try linux on the existing comps. Right of the bat they encounter partitioning and multi boot issues. Now consider that grub2 writes to the mbr and frequently borks and fails to boot after OS installs. All of this is tricky stuff for newbies and it is classical command line territory. So how does ubuntu position itself in the market place to meet this challenge? IT DISABLES THE VERY THING YOU NEED MOST. I have to add if I was a billionaire philanthropist dedicated to the linux community; then disabling root accounts would not be my first thought. But nor would I contemplate putting window controls on the top LEFT of the windows ffs. As I am in a rant I may as well finish off. IMHO ubuntu has serious/technical branding issues to do with the way they handle two major desktops. Half the k stuff files are still called ubuntu….plus they now have multiple color palettes and names. I would have gone with ubuntu k and ubuntu g – one forum – one color palette – one brand – one user experience.

Keithen

you don’t need sudo to change your own password, just use

$ passwd

then you will be able to sudo if required using the password you just entered

if he didnt set one you will have to reinstall linux or its useless…doesnt take long if you set a password you wont have a problem with the root and i didnt have to reinstall it there is another way to go into the boot up and change it but i cant remember right now sorry

new user to ubunto, i appreciate the root folder is designed to be hard to access, when i try some the above console tricks , im not able to type new password for root, (just like J3sus who left comment above)

Im having problems with my Nvidia graphics drivers , not happy with the resolutions available to me and to try a “possible newer driver for card” i need access to the root folder.
because i have a NVIDIA-Linux-x86-256-53.run file which apparently needs to be placed into a folder located in the root folder so that the system can fire up the driver. something on them lines! im complete novice and new here. appreciate some help. be nice to have good highish resolution available. hellishandy

hi all. i’m now using ubuntu 9.0. i was lost root password. And i need to work in root. so how to renew root password? please

I like the sudo option, even with automatic login. People who have access to my machine can not perform admin operations.

ubuntu is asking for a password and an authentification code and I never set one up upon installing it–what can I do

Ridwan, are you allowed to call any command with sudo? The file /etc/sudoers should contain something like “%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL” and you should be member of the group wheel. Try “sudo bash” or “sudo -i” instead of invoking su. Or directly use “sudo passwd root” to set a root password.

If you want to set a new root password without knowing the old or having access via sudo, you can do the following in the GRUB bootloader:
Select your linux entry in GRUB and add “1″ in the list of optional kernel parameters. This will load the single user mode, which is a root console. Then use “passwd” to set a new password (you don’t need to know the old one).

If the console asks you for the root password to login, then try another kernel parameter “init=/bin/sh”. This should prevent a regular login prompt and push you directly to the command line. Then call
mount -a
passwd

reboot

This worked for me on Ubuntu as well as SLES.

If all fails, you can always boot your system from a Live disk, become root there to mount and chroot to your harddisk. The command “passwd” as root will then set a new root password on your harddisk.

Ubuntu puts the first created user automatically into the wheel group and configures sudo accordingly. You should never need to login as root.

Thankyou for actually being smart now i can install gstreamer0.10-XXXXXX it didnt let me before

We have a server which has 4 users and they all have their own login and pass word.but root login and password are known to all users so by opening root login people they are opening some important documents which they need not to
Please guide me what to do with my own login and password such that even from root also the documents can not be opened!!!

Thanks

i am using the red hat 6 ,i want to know the root password with out permission of administrative pls give the commands

Open application terminal and just type passwd, then you will be required to type in your new unix password, it should be able to enable your password. Root is an administrative function so you should be having administrative rights to execute root commands.

Since most programs uses gksu to gain root privileges (which points actually to gksudo) giving a root password is not enough. You will still be ask for the old password as long as the account you are logged in is part of the admin group.

Here the complete procedure to set up a root password:
1. login in the account that is allowed to gain root privileges
(the one you have set up first during ubuntu installation, assume it
“mandy”).

2. Open a terminal and type
>sudo passwd

3. Type the new root password twice.

4. make gksudo and other programs use the new password:
Delete “mandy” from group “admin” in /etc/group.
This can be done graphically with
Start -> System -> user and groups

haha root can see all files. why dont you change the root passwd so no one else knows it

Ryan, if you’re such a hardcore hacker as you’re claiming, you should log in as root and load Nautilus or the whatever as root. Or modify your menu commands. Really, you’re whining like a noob.