sudo: must be setuid root

[beesforbreath]

I'm unable to perform any sudo operations because of this error message

must be setuid root

I've read through the forums and I believe the issue is with the fact that I chowned the /usr/ directory. My question is: how do I change it back to root so I can use sudo?

[lprimm]

Yeah - I did the same thing... did you figure/find a way to fix it? (other than reinstalling....)

[TheBlackNoodle]

If the problem is just that you chowned /usr, try rebooting with the Ubuntu Live CD. Open a terminal and do the following...

sudo mkdir /mnt/ubuntu
sudo mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/ubuntu
sudo chown -r root /mnt/ubuntu/usr
sudo umount /mnt/ubuntu

I'm assuming your install is on /dev/hda1. If it's not, you'll have to change that part to match your setup.

But you should be able to do all the maintenance you need from the Live CD.

If the problem is not only that you chowned /usr, I can't guarantee this will work.

[BLTicklemonster]

I went into the recovery console (reboot, and chose recovery console in case you didn't catch on to how to do that), and typed

ls -l usr/bin/sudo

and the readout looked fine, like this

-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 93844 2006-05-17 08:41 /usr/bin/sudo

but I knew better...


so I put

chwon root:root /usr/bin/sudo
then
chmod 4755 /usr/bin/sudo

then I typed

reboot


and I now have sudo again.

[ferd]

Thank you so much. I had struggled with this for days and did finally reinstall. This will save me 4 hours if I am ever dumb enough to chown usr again.

[Naikei]

Originally Posted by BLTicklemonster ls -l usr/bin/sudo chown root:root /usr/bin/sudo chmod 4755 /usr/bin/sudo reboot

Thankyou so much . I am one tired, happy, sleeping without "WHAT COULD IT BE!?" tonight, user. Because of you.
Haha.
Cheers
Naikei

[taff99]

Thanks for the advice, it work for me to.

Shame I let my chmod run from / without noticing it ..

I now have another message up after I try SUDO

Sudo: /etc/sudoers is mode 0777, should be 0440

I also have a nice message at login about $HOME...

A nice evening ahead ......

Thanks

[zeekay]

Originally Posted by Naikei Thankyou so much . I am one tired, happy, sleeping without "WHAT COULD IT BE!?" tonight, user. Because of you. Haha. Cheers Naikei

That solved for me too. Thanks.

[hooah212002]

Originally Posted by BLTicklemonster I went into the recovery console (reboot, and chose recovery console in case you didn't catch on to how to do that), and typed ls -l usr/bin/sudo and the readout looked fine, like this -rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 93844 2006-05-17 08:41 /usr/bin/sudo but I knew better... so I put chwon root:root /usr/bin/sudo then chmod 4755 /usr/bin/sudo then I typed reboot and I now have sudo again.

Worked for me.....the second time. The first time I just typed in exit and I guess it didnt save changes. Thanks BLTicklemonster

[coolnezz]

Thanks! It worked for me.

Originally Posted by BLTicklemonster I went into the recovery console (reboot, and chose recovery console in case you didn't catch on to how to do that), and typed ls -l usr/bin/sudo and the readout looked fine, like this -rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 93844 2006-05-17 08:41 /usr/bin/sudo but I knew better... so I put chwon root:root /usr/bin/sudo then chmod 4755 /usr/bin/sudo then I typed reboot and I now have sudo again.