[Techtalk] Root access on Ubuntu

[David Sumbler]

On Sun, 2008-12-21 at 17:25 +0200, Anne Wainwright wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Am taking the plunge to upgrade my laptop. So far I have loaded ubuntu
> onto a desktop to play with.
> 
> Now unless I missed something during the install I don't see that I
> got also access to a root account. I can't log in as 'root' - my
> _always_used-root-password doesn't work nor do any reasonable guesses
> (like 'ubuntu', 'shuttleworth', 'password' etc)
> 
> But I want to edit the /etc/hosts and add in the other network
> machines and ip addresses (my network is hard numbered, no dhcp
> because can't get it to go on old debian potatoe m/c)
> 
> Have I fouled up somewhere, or is there a password that I am supposed
> to know?

As others have indicated, the default for Ubuntu is for the root account
to be disabled.  You have to use 'sudo' (with your user password) in
order to do admin tasks.

Some people (including me) don't like not having a root account, though.

It is possible to enable the root account by running 'sudo passwd root',
then setting a suitable password for the root account.  After that you
should be able to log in as root, as in most other Linux distros.

David

-- 
David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk>