[Klug-general] My earlier plea re Skype

[George Prowse]

Alan @ COMM-TECH wrote:
> George Prowse wrote:
>> Alan @ COMM-TECH wrote:
>>>> PatRichardson at aol.com wrote:
>>>>>  
>>>>> In truth, I think the problem will have to be on my system because, 
>>>>> related to "System Install Packages". I am asked for "Authentication as 
>>>>> "Root"". It needs an administrator's password.
>>>>>  
>>>>>
>>> George Prowse wrote:
>>>> You have no option but to set a password when installing linux, it is 
>>>> the first part of the security.
>>>>
>>>> When you boot you may see a list of options of operating systems you 
>>>> have installed or a message saying "please hit the esc key for a menu...".
>>>> Hit the escape key.
>>>> Go to the top entry.
>>>> Press E, that will edit that line.
>>>> Put "1" (without quotes) and the end of that line.
>>>> press esc
>>>> press b
>>>> when it boots and you get > type passwd root
>>>> type in a new password for root
>>>> REMEMBER IT!
>>>> boot as normal
>>>>
>>> This sounds like an eepc, in which case the OS may be debian and 
>>> probably use sudo. This means a root password is of no use (in the gui 
>>> anyway)
>>>
>>> If this is the case then the password it is asking for is the user's pw, 
>>> it will not accept a blank one so you as user have to set your own password.
>>>
>>> There is likely a place in the gui to set your own password, look under 
>>> administration, users but if there is none, then:
>>>
>>> Open a terminal
>>> Type passwd yourusername << replace yourusername as appropriate
>>>  From this point onwards you wil need to enter your uname and this 
>>> password whenever you log in.
>>> Then try entering that password when it prompts.
>>>
>> su (switch user) when used without $user requires a super user password 
>> and can be used on any system regardless of whether there is another 
>> program designed to give escalated privileges. So as long as the 
>> password is set (as per my instructions) he can run any command.
>>
>> All he needs to do then is correct his system using su
>>
> 
> Sorry I was not very clear, by default su will not work, the reason 
> being the root account on a sudo system is by default disabled
> (although as you say  the single user root password procedure above 
> remedy that situation by assigning a valid pass for root and therefore 
> enabling the account)
> 
> George: I hope am not misunderstanding what your saying, forgive me if so :)
> 
No, I think we were talking about the same thing in the end. My point 
was that enabling su would allow him to make any changes he wanted, even 
to sudo.