authentication!!!

[kinggreene]

ii have installed Ubuntu for the second time now thinking i had cocked sometimng up only to find that now i have the same problem again!!! I CANNOT log in a root user in a terminal window, when i type su and it prompts me for the password i enter it as i have done in other distro's and i get.....

Password:
su: Authentication failure
Sorry.
colin@ubuntu:~$

i have the right password and also i cannot log in as root at the log on screen.

any ideas welcome!!

colin

[fossill]

Ubuntu has its root disabled. For security reasons ubuntu does not have a root user account. You can bypass this by using the command "sudo \username\" and enter your password, it will give you "root" access, or as in this case, admin rights.

[techieMoe]

Also, if you get tired of typing "sudo" before every command you can re-activate the root user with this:

sudo passwd root
Password: <regular user password>
New UNIX Password: <desired root password>

i have the right password and also i cannot log in as root at the log on screen.

Graphical login as root user is very bad idea. You should be able to do anything you need for system administration from a root console.