Suing To Root

[chuckr]

I have my new Pandora, and my chuckr login with password is working fine, but I can't see (in all my searching) what the root password is, so I couldn't get it and change it. Please, can you help me?

 

[Exophase]

sudo su

 

[mali]

n00b question:
Would "ssh root@127.0.0.1" work too to become root?

 

[Exophase]

n00b question:
Would "ssh root@127.0.0.1" work too?

No, it'll ask you for the root password and you'll be back at square one. Furthermore, a lot of ssh servers don't even allow root logins, but I don't know what Pandora's default setup is like.

 

[mali]

Much to learn. I can't do sudo su on my N800, cause I don't know the password, ssh root works though, as the ssh software asked for a new password when installing.

 

[Exophase]

Much to learn. I can't do sudo su on my N800, cause I don't know the password, ssh root works though, as the ssh software asked for a new password when installing.

The story is a little different if you're already root.

This is assuming he's logged in under a superuser capable account that isn't root, as is the case on Pandora.

 

[mali]

^ Ah ok, that makes sense

 

[Pleng]

I have my new Pandora, and my chuckr login with password is working fine, but I can't see (in all my searching) what the root password is, so I couldn't get it and change it. Please, can you help me?

You wan't to know the password to enter when prompted after typing sudo [somecommand] right? It should be the same as the password for the first user you set up (chuckr, in your case)

 

[Exophase]

You wan't to know the password to enter when prompted after typing sudo [somecommand] right? It should be the same as the password for the first user you set up (chuckr, in your case)

That's not the root password, and probably not what he's asking for since he's indicated he can login.

 

[EvilDragon]

You wan't to know the password to enter when prompted after typing sudo [somecommand] right? It should be the same as the password for the first user you set up (chuckr, in your case)

That's not the root password, and probably not what he's asking for since he's indicated he can login.

But sudo asks for the user password.
So with sudo su, you can become root when entering the user password.

 

[Exophase]

But sudo asks for the user password.
So with sudo su, you can become root when entering the user password.

That's probably why I suggested doing that in the second post ;p

I'm saying he's not asking what his password is, he's asking what the root password is. Of course, I don't know what the root password is, but he can become root and change it this way.

 

[EvilDragon]

Oh... aaaah, right.
The root password is setup randomly in the first boot wizard. No one knows it.

 

[Tempel]

The root password is setup randomly in the first boot wizard. No one knows it.

It would be better to lock the account. "passwd -l root" should do it. But if you're using tinylogin (which doesn't have the -l flag for passwd), just put a ! in front of the hashed password in /etc/shadow. Minor thing, really. Off topic too. Sorry.

To chuckr: as others have mentioned, you don't need a root login, and it's likely more secure if you don't. Just use sudo for any commands that need root privileges, with your user password. If you really want a root login, "sudo passwd root" will let you set root's password, and thereby be able to su to it.

 

[atomicthumbs]

sudo bash

 

[doublebeta]

EvilDragon, why did you make the root password random, and not inexistant like ubuntu (which makes it impossible to log in)?

It's better to make it impossible to login as root, and to only become root using sudo.

And if ssh allows root logins on anything, unless you absolutely need that, disable it! (/etc/ssh/sshd.conf, or something similar)

And don't reuse passwords(not mentioned), not only do you look like a noob, but you get owned like one too.

Why do you need to become root anyway?

 

[Prometheus]

I thought that Ubuntu made it random? (If it doesn't, I wonder where I picked that up?)

 

[dgame]

Okay, could you all explain the fear of "root"?

I once asked how to log in as root in an Ubuntu forum and got a bunch of NOOOOOOO! Upon logging in as root Skynet will become self-aware! type responses. Why the panic? I mean if the system gets screwed up then re-flash. What is the big deal? This sudo stuff reminds me of Vista.

"Why do you need to become root anyway?" So I won't have to do that annoying sudo stuff?

 

[Prometheus]

There is no fear of root. However, from my perspective at least, there is often concern that a user not aware that, essentially, "root = god", could hose their system, or allow the use of it to unauthorised persons whilst they remain unaware (such as often happens with botnets), and then not know what to do about it.

Why be root if you don't need to be?

I just speak as a non-techie user, however.

 

[EvilDragon]

Exactly. Windows locks important system files, but as root on Linux, you can delete anything.

Also, if anyone has root access to your device, he can do anything with it. Grab passwords, etc. from your system.

 

[Prometheus]

Your standard one?

I haven't needed to do this, so I don't know if there's a GUI available for it, but the typical way (off the top of my head) would be to open a terminal, and run this;

sudo passwd yourusernamegoeshere