[SOLVED] Could not chdir to home directory /root

[db2007]

HELP!!!

I get this error when I try to log in to our Centos server as root. Does anyone know how to fix this? The /root directory is not there. Logging in as a different user works.

Could not chdir to home directory /root: No such file or directory
-bash-3.2#

Thanks,
DB

[db2007]

I also get this error when exiting from a vim command (this may be related).

E138: Can't write viminfo file /root/.viminfo!
Press ENTER or type command to continue

[Roxoff]

Root's home directory is missing. You can recreate it with 'mkdir /root', but it'll be empty.

Normally, you should not log in directly as root. All direct root access should be disabled for remote logins and X sessions, although allowing root access from text-mode terminals can be a lifesaver when things go wrong. You should always log in as a real user and then use 'su' or 'su -' (and the root password, of course) to change to the root user.

[db2007]

Thanks Roxoff.

I did tried recreating the /root directory. When I log in as root, I don't get that message anymore but my command line still starts out with

-bash-3.2#

instead of

[root@server~]$

Is something missing?

[Roxoff]

Yes, you've got some default files missing. There are a set of user defaults in /etc/skel (or similar - I'm sorry I forget the exact place, and I'm at work using Windwos at the moment, so I cant look).

The files you need are the default .bash_profile and .bashrc, these should be copied into /root. The leading '.' means the files are hidden, so you might have to do 'ls -a' to see them.

[db2007]

That worked. Thank you so much!