root access

[Otsenior]

I have just installed Ubuntu 12.10 and I need to edit a root protected file and when I su and enter the password that I setup at the installation I get an authentication failure Why? what am I doing wrong

[steeldriver]

You should be using 'sudo'

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

[deadflowr]

Just run

gksudo gedit path-to-file

or if terminal savvy

sudo nano same-path-to-file

[ManamiVixen]

Canonical reserves "su" and only they have the password. So you have to use sudo.

[nothingspecial]

Canonical reserves "su" and only they have the password. So you have to use sudo.

That is misleading.

Ubuntu ships with the root account disabled because it is unecessary if sudo is available.

[deadflowr]

Canonical reserves "su" and only they have the password. So you have to use sudo.

Nobody is stopping you from setting a root password.

It's just that sudo does the job just as well.
So the need is moot.

[ManamiVixen]

Huh, I didn't know root was disabled. I read Canonical reserved root with a custom long complex password so as to deture hacking the OS and to keep the user safer. Thanks for correcting me!

[oldos2er]

Canonical reserves "su" and only they have the password. So you have to use sudo.

I can't imagine the hue and cry that would result if people thought Canonical was somehow keeping passwords; needless to say they do not.

[haqking]

Canonical reserves "su" and only they have the password. So you have to use sudo.

That is the funniest thing I have read for weeks, and there is always something in this forum that makes me laugh.

Thanks

[ManamiVixen]

Ok, I pull by my thanks and call you jerks now. I told you it was what I read somewhere and didn't know it was wrong yet you rub it in and laugh even though the reason I why I believed it was a good, valid one.