Root password does not match

[danny7]

I have a clean install of Ubuntu 13.latest on my moms system. I created a single account on it with one password as far as I can remember.
I'm now trying to install a few programs for her and I;m unable to do so. The system promps me to enter the root password which apparently I'm entering wrong.

To log in to the system as the user, I am able to log in using the password I thought I had set as also the root password.

I found this post but this looks like it would change the password for the user, not the root. I'm not sure if this is one in the same but if so, they I would be able to use the same password I used to log in to the desktop.

I can I reset the password for root, would the post mentioned be my ticket?

[deadflowr]

There is no root password, or at least one enabled.
The first user you made should have the rights to run root tasks, if needed, using sudo.
The link you have is pretty much the right idea.

It would be a good idea to know if you belong to the admin/sudo groups, which allow you to run sudo commands.
you run

id usernamehere

and see if sudo or admin(NOT adm, that is a different group; it's for reading logfiles).

The link also has mention of running the mount command.
if the mount command in the first part doesn't work try the one later on

mount -o remount,rw /

Basically, though, follow the guide and you should be fine.

[steeldriver]

If you are being asked for root's password instead of your own (sudo) password, it may be because the gksu utility is not properly configured - run

gksu-properties

in a terminal and make sure the mode is set to sudo not su

[tfrue]

Read this article, this is the solution I know. Just be sure to follow it closely as you can really mess up your system.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Change_Root

[deadflowr]

Something else also, did you make the single account during the install, or after?

[spencer the great]

$ sudo passwd
[sudo] password for USERNAME:
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:

The first line is asking to run the passwd utility as root, which changes the password of the specified user (or, if no user is specified, like in this case, it changes your own password). It normally asks for your current password before changing it, but this restriction doesn't apply to the root user. That said, NEVER leave root logged in while you are away! root is the main admin account of the system and can change pretty much everything!

The second line is prompting you to enter your own password to gain root privileges in order to do this.
The third and fourth lines are for you to enter the new ROOT password.
None of these passwords will show as you type them, not even in asterisks.

If you just want the graphical GUI to stop asking you for a root password, you want to follow steeldriver's solution.

Read this article, this is the solution I know. Just be sure to follow it closely as you can really mess up your system.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Change_Root

No, not THAT root. You're thinking about the root directory. This has nothing to do with that.

[lisati]

You might also like to take a look here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

[danny7]

Been a bit busy but I thank you guys for all the input.

Ok so here's what I got so far: I restarted the system and dropped in to the terminal, then:

mount -rw -o remount /

then I looked up the user name

ls /home
helena

finally

passwd helena

the password was successfully changed.

Booted into the desktop, tried to install and app, entered the password and still not allowing me to make changes.

Opened the terminal and

gksu-properties
The program 'gksu-propersties' is not currently installed. You can install it using the following command(...)

Which I enter but cannot execute

 sudo apt-get install libgksu-0 
(...)
helena is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.

[mayagrafix]

helena is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.

sounds like one of those snarky OpenSuse OS remarks...

[danny7]

Thank for ruining it, I will forever read that in Hals voice now.