Comments on: Enable and Disable Ubuntu Root Password

By: John

John — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:37:58 +0000

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.

By: GIJ

GIJ — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:01:54 +0000

i give up, one week and i still dont feel linux. all because of the “root issue”. back to my beloved custom distro.

By: Jason Fowler

Jason Fowler — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:34:38 +0000

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

By: Philip_Musgrave

Philip_Musgrave — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:51:50 +0000

I just recently installed Ubuntu 9.04 and had a few major problems, but upgrading to 9.10 (Karmic Koala) solved the worst (display res stuck at 800×600) - so I am now moving on to more important things, such as using the root access to run a few commands, and this discussion has proved to be most informative. Thank you (I will NOT be enabling a root login). (also, got a few chuckles from some of the more vociferous posters) - my background is I started with Atari DOS, then IBM with DOS 2-5 and all of the various Windows versions… cursing Microsoft pretty much for close to 30 years. Ahh, finally an OS that works and doesn’t try to be my nanny!

By: BakiShamil

BakiShamil — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:42:07 +0000

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.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:37:39 +0000

when i installed ubuntu originally it asked to create a user acct but i did not assign a password to it. so when i enter any sudo command it asks for the user password so i just hit enter and then the command doesn’t execute. how can i add a user?

By: mathi

mathi — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:24:36 +0000

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

By: fcdenton

fcdenton — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:27:55 +0000

bhtexan This is not a holywar thread. It is just amazing how you paid microsoft trolls manage to **** up any harmless discussion. Where are your eyes? Are you blind? The topic is called “Enable and Disable Ubuntu Root Password”. Where is there any word about M$, for **** sake?

By: bhtexan

bhtexan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:19:10 +0000

It is interesting to see alot of the same arogance from so called Linux masters that you see from Macophiles. Just because all you nerdy guys created you own little OS with it’s on little quirks does not make you king of the hill. If you really want to have your OS accepted by “Windoz” users ( and of course you really don’t) then you would not make it like a maze to wander through. So take all your snide little comments that only make you feel good and put them some place the rest of us don’t have to deal with. Whether you like it or not, people are used to Windows and don’t care to be techies just to use a computer, or perform a simple task like install Flash so they can watch a video! If you make it difficult, they will go somewhere else. If you are as smart as you think and want to be smarter than MS, create something a user wants, not what a programmer wants. Just look around you, do most people care how their car’s systems operate? Of course not, they just want it to start and get them where they are going without being a pain in the ass!

By: tae

tae — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:20:09 +0000

hi you tried to change ubuntu password with VMware and when you try to type the password it does not work please help

By: John

John — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:46:16 +0000

I have had not many problems with Ubuntu coming from a Windows background, but I have used Linux as well since Debian 3.0 and Redhat 6.2. I have found that using various live CD’s you can use sudo su - to get a root prompt but what if you forget it is root and type that command to delete all your unwanted pics and accidentally type rm -rf /? sudo you are root running that command and not running at a root prompt for the whole session. Just make sure your password is 8+ characters.

By: Fcdenton

Fcdenton — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:55:43 +0000

You need to install Synaptic. Open terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install synaptic
Alternatively, you can use another manager: Applications -> Add/Remove Programs

By: Kenny

Kenny — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:27:25 +0000

I’m new to kubuntu 9.04, actually just installed it bout a week ago with dual-boot with my XP. Well I’ve read some of the commands up above, but some other sites says it would be easier to go to “System > Admistrator > Synaptics Manager” to look for programs and install. I must be blind, but I searched high and low, no luck on it. Any suggestions?

By: Marina

Marina — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:11:48 +0000

Thanks!
Easy!

Thank you Therry for showing how to enable root log in…

By: Rajendra

Rajendra — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:40:34 +0000

Thank you very much this commands I’m Successfully login root user.

By: fcdenton

fcdenton — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:48:58 +0000

cd /media
sudo chown -R (user) (partition)
chmod -R ug+rw (partition)

By: fcdenton

fcdenton — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:46:49 +0000

I think those users who need root password know nothing about chmod command. If you want to create files on a new partition you should do the following.

GUI way.
Login as root and run nautilus, then change the user to yourself and enable permissions to read and write.

Command-line way (actually, easier but to more experienced).

sudo nautilus

cd /media
sudo chown -R
chmod -R ug+rw

By: MarSys

MarSys — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:45:46 +0000

I’m new to linux.
Thought that the user account created on the installation steps was the root.. but no!
Anyway-.. it’s better to lock root instead of leaving it unprotected like on some old linux distributions.
The default account priviledges are enough to keep and update the system..

I have doubt… Can someone unlock my root account remotely?
And since it’s locked there’s no root login for ftp or telnet, right?

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:17:55 +0000

I have really enjoyed the article and some of the comments. I started in Unix on release 7 which predated the public release of Unix System 5. Never did figure out how you go from release 7 to System 5? I did Unix administration using ROOT logins, but that is the way it was done back in 1979. That was before Bill Gates borrowed his idea for Windoze. I can tell you (from experience) that not having ROOT login permissions is probably a good thing for most users. I had a system that was used for development that had to be disabled when the development contact got cancelled. In “ONE” command, the entire Unix system was totally wiped out. When logged in under ROOT the system assumes you know what you are doing and does NO hand holding. There is no “Are you sure?” windoze warnings, it just goes and does it - no questions, no warnings, no second chances. So if you decide to enable ROOT and login - remember “Let the User beware!”. I am rather new to Ubuntu - but it is nice to see that most of the commands I used all those years ago using command-line still work pretty much like they used to.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:35:00 +0000

My Company uses Check Point Connectra Portal SSL Extender for VPN.
Its launched via the browser, in my case Firefox, it runs a Java app, then a dialog box prompt comes up and says:

“The installation script requires root permissions.
Please provide the root password.
Password:”

If I enter my user accounts password it doesn’t work. It fails.
I don’t have a prompt to tell it to launch via sudo. So I am at a loss.
My limited IT dept tells me to dump Ubuntu and use a Linux distro that allows root accounts. (I did say they where a limited IT Dept )

I am a linux and Ubuntu newbie. Would like to keep using this, but if I can’t create and acitviate a root account, even if it is a Pandora’s box of evil, I may have to dump Ubuntu, need to log into work.