Logging in as "root"?

[mrdelurk]

Mac & PC guy, Ubuntu newbie here. I installed Ubuntu Studio 9.0.4., as a VMWare virtual machine in OSX to check it out. I specified a password to 'root', did not add any other users. (I run the whole show as "admin" in OSX and Windows as well. If some kid wants my files - help yourself, I don't care. The mp3's are under "Music".)

Anyhow, the Ubuntu Studio install went through, the nifty login splash screen came up. I tried to login in a "root" with my password, and got the following thing into my face:

"The system administrator is not allowed to login from this screen"

OK, so what "other" login screen does Ubuntu have, then?

[rcgreen]

By default, Ubuntu isn't set up to allow root login at the graphical
login prompt. If you didn't set up a normal user at install time,
you can't log in as a user either. hit ctl alt F3 to get a text
login, and log in as root from there. Then either create a normal
user account adduser or useradd or remove the
restriction from root graphical login. You'll have to Google for it.
I don't know off the top of my head.

BTW, OSX is set up the same as Ubuntu. You have a normal
user account and prefix administrative commands with sudo
and give user password. It is possible to create root account
if you prefer.

[mrdelurk]

The Ctrl - Alt - F3 worked fine. Useradd XXXX created an user called XXXX (or it didn't). I was going to restart and find out, but "restart" didn't work. "Reboot" OTOH nose-dived the whole OS in the ground. Yeah! Serves it well for not allowing root login.

Is there an command that switches to the GUI after the Ctrl - Alt - F3 "root" login is completed? That might be login route I'll adopt, then.

[rcgreen]

ctl alt F7 I believe, returns you to the GUI.

[reed9]

Other people hacking your machine are not the only reason you shouldn't run as root. User error suddenly becomes much more dangerous, for one, and we all make mistakes. And some programs will give you trouble, because, well, they are designed with the idea that they shouldn't run as root.

If you're annoyed by passwords, you can set up sudo to not ask for it.

[mrdelurk]

I don't know, something rubs me very wrong about an OS that treats me like a retard, even if I might be one. (It's always a possibility.) Welcoming a potential adopter with a "you can't do this, retard", might explain why Linux has a whopping 0% market share in pro recording studios. You don't welcome a potential customer this way and stay in this business.

OK, I'm done with my 5 second rant. Ctrl - Alt - F7 returned me to the pre-login GUI. Is there one that leads to the post-login one?

[reed9]

What? The system is designed not to allow every application to run willy nilly with elevated privileges. The process is open and transparent, unlike in Windows, which silently elevated privileges without your knowledge all the time.

That's like saying, "Something rubs me wrong about an OS that tells me to make backups of critical data. Welcoming a potential user with a 'back up your data' is probably why no one uses the program'" It's not a good argument.

I mentioned user error as an example, but also, if you're running a program as root and there's a bug in the code, it can take down the whole system. It's not confined to the user account. Or, in the realm of human error. Or, the famous command

rm -rf /

Run that as root as your system is gone, and there are a number of variations which will do the same thing, and can just take a key slip or mistype.

I don't mean to be an ***, but if you don't know enough about the system to switch between the virtual console and the GUI, why do you think you know more than the thousands of developers who have built the system?

Anyway, if you don't want a system that treats you like an idiot, try Gentoo.

[mrdelurk]

OK, I kicked in the door, barged past the security hurdle, to discover: Ubuntu Studio has every musical toy program preinstalled - but not Rosegarden, Linux's only serious contender for a pro music app.

Well, this was worth protecting so much

All right, if Gentoo allows root login, I'll install Rosegarden on Gentoo instead, then, and keep on trucking on that. Hopefully I'll feel better vibes with it (and a low-latency distro exists ) As far as "rm -rf /", yepp, that's in this Ubuntu's near future. Gentlemen, thank you for your help.

[rcgreen]

OK, I'm done with my 5 second rant. Ctrl - Alt - F7 returned me to the pre-login GUI. Is there one that leads to the post-login one?

No, but if you created a user account while in text
mode, you may log in now.

[daark.child]

You could just install Rosegarden in Ubuntu Studio. You can do this by entering "apt-get update" and then "apt-get install rosegarden" in a terminal. Alternatively use Synaptic.