Make system require root password instead of user password for admistrative tasks

[J.Vega]

Thanks a lot sisco311, that was exactly what I was searching for!

The simplest solution would be to just run a distro that uses the security model you like.

That was one of the reasons why I quit Ubuntu a while ago... The problem was that the other distros had other flaws that were more annoying than those of Ubuntu

How would you define "secure"?
It could be worse - it could ask for a password for every keystroke or mouse click.

Just because there is something worse doesn't mean it is good But I may have used some misleading sentences in my problem description.
I just got used to the way thing were treated a while ago. This way I can change system settings without the need to logout and back in as root, but I can also say "here's my user password, I need you to change something in my account, because I cannot do it myself". Like I said, there are reasons for and against this, it's just a matter of taste and thinking

[ashmew2]

Well i appreciate the OP's thirst for knowledge and all , but wouldnt it be just easier to set the user's password , same as the root password and not tell anyone about it ?

[J.Vega]

I think I've already answered that question, but here's another try:
I use my user account all the day, maybe use the same password for other things (probably use the same for user-account-related things) and enter it multiple times for the simplest things. Don't you think it's much easier to find out my user password than the root password I use maybe 3 times a day? Of course, I could lock my laptop with a bios password and then don't use any other passwords at all. Still nobody else than me could turn it on.
It's a matter of how you want to define the security changes on your computer. If you want every user to be able to do everything, you don't need a password at all. If you want your main user to be able to do everything, you need 1 password for him. If you want the root user to be able to do everything, you need a seperate password for him and another one for you main user.
I like the last possibility most. That's all.
It would be easier to use no password at all, but I don't think that such an amount of security is enough for the data on my computer
I think that the last possibility has the best security/work ratio for me.

[dcstar]

I think I've already answered that question, but here's another try:
I use my user account all the day, maybe use the same password for other things (probably use the same for user-account-related things) and enter it multiple times for the simplest things. Don't you think it's much easier to find out my user password than the root password I use maybe 3 times a day? Of course, I could lock my laptop with a bios password and then don't use any other passwords at all. Still nobody else than me could turn it on.
It's a matter of how you want to define the security changes on your computer. If you want every user to be able to do everything, you don't need a password at all. If you want your main user to be able to do everything, you need 1 password for him. If you want the root user to be able to do everything, you need a separate password for him and another one for you main user.
I like the last possibility most. That's all.
It would be easier to use no password at all, but I don't think that such an amount of security is enough for the data on my computer
I think that the last possibility has the best security/work ratio for me.

And as you have discovered, you can change Ubuntu to do exactly what you want - rather than what others "recommend", so you get a system that satisfies your needs - with all the risk/benefits that you accept by doing this.

I'm glad you found out how to enable the root password on your own, because when I posted how to do it a few weeks back I got pinged with a forum infraction - because posting that information is taboo here (since last year, as I subsequently found......)

Now that you (and I, also) have Ubuntu systems with enabled root accounts be aware that these are apparently "unsupported" and we will have to live with this crippling reality....

[J.Vega]

Wow, that was new to me
Can you (or anyone reading this) tell me where I can find an explanation for that "rule"?

[sisco311]

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=716201