5.10 PPC install not recognizing root

[Adam Boettiger]

I went through an install of 5.10 from CD and tried to access as root but it is not recognizing the root password I created during the installer process.

I seem to recall reading about this bug somewhere on this forum but nothing's coming up on searches. If someone could post the fix that would be appreciated.

/AB

[imacQ]

passwords case sensitive; make sure caplock isn't on. if you mean opperate as root in terminal you need to use sudo <whatever>.

[3rdalbum]

This is a serious bug in Ubuntu. You're not alone - I set a root password during install, and then I couldn't get sudo access.

Unfortunately, unless you're a Linux/Unix expert and know how to use Vim to edit the sudoers file (you have to do it using Rescue Mode on the install CD), you should probably wipe it all and reinstall. This time, just press Return when prompted for a root password (and Return when asked to confirm it), and then the user you create in the installation will have Sudo access.

[oswaldkelso]

Thanks This has been a big bug bear for me. I could'nt remember put in a root pw and was thinking it must be my memory going.

[alamba]

how did you guys manage to put in a root password during install of ubuntu when the installed never asks for one? The only thing it asks is for you to create the first user and password for that user. The first users username is also supplied by you.

Login with that username and the password your supplied.

Akshay

[wannabelinuxconvert]

I agree with alamba ... the only password asked to be set during the installation is the one for the user you create ... Ubuntu disables root login as default and prompts all users who need root access to use sudo instead as this is much more secure ;)

Mic

[oswaldkelso]

Yes I see I was not asked for a root pw ( I just wiped and reinstalled ). so I opened the terminal and typed sudo and my user name it asked for a password I typed one in and it refused to accept one:confused: It really miffs me as I cant try and install things that are not in the package manager. Any answers recieved with thanks

oswaldkelso

[linear]

it asked for a password I typed one in
Sorry for belaboring this, but was this exactly the same password you set up during the install?

[Lanrond]

As far as I know, in Ubuntu there is no "root" user or, better said, "root" user is not enabled, so there is no root password.

To access root privilege you simply use sudo followed by whichever command you want to use as root. The password you will be asked for is your user password (the one you were asked for during install).

[wannabelinuxconvert]

You do realise you don't type your username after sudo, you just issue the command you require ... for example to restart the apache2 webserver, which requires you to use sudo you would type

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

It will then prompt you for a password, and you enter the password for the user you are logged in as.

This password will then be held in memory just for as long as the terminal window is open, so sudo won't prompt you everytime you need to use it in that session.

You can however temporarily log in as root from the terminal using

sudo -s -H

Again this will prompt you for the password of the user your are logged in as, and then you can operate as root, but again, only until you close that terminal session.

Hope this helps.

Mic

[Grimm1337]

Hey, I get this same problem also, But I want to erase the HD and start over again. When I put in a repair CD or Mac OS 9 CD to erase it, It sees nothing. I dont know what to do. Does Ubuntu do something to make the HD disapear?

[3rdalbum]

Grimm, if you let Ubuntu wipe the hard disk when it installed, then that would explain why the Mac OS startup disk can't see it. Go into the Drive Setup utility on the OS 9 CD, and that will see your hard disk. When you click "Initialise", you'll be able to click another button to go into the partition setup. Do that, and set up whatever Mac partitions you want.

If you wanted to wipe the disk and put Ubuntu on it again, you can do that using the default settings of the Ubuntu installer.

[Grimm1337]

Many thanks 3rdalbum! I never saw that program on my CD!

[mush]

From my experiences, ubuntu does not by default ask for a root password. This is (as stated before) because of the sudo command. When you just hit 'enter' at the initial install screen, it will go through a default setup. However if you type in 'expert' at the install screen, it will let you go through a much more custom install. But with the expert install, it allows you to specify a root password. that is where kubuntu can run into problems with conflicting passwords since your initial user is specified as somewhat root during the regular install.

It's all just a big mixup waiting to happen. I just scrubbed my machine and reinstalled using the default setup, and now the sudo command is pretty slick. Just remember to chekc your groups

--mush