Difference between revisions of "Root"

Revision as of 11:49, 20 August 2005

Q: What is the root password?

A:

Live CD:

From the Using FAQ : there is none; in Knoppix LiveCD all passwords are locked by default.

You can set root password by going Knoppix Menu->Root Shell and typing "passwd", then enterting a root password, also there are several sections you can read dealing with this subject in KNOPPIX/README_Security.txt. You can also type "sudo su" or "sudo -s" in any console window, or use <ctr>-<alt>-F2 to get at the text console with already opened root shell.

Apparently, however, in some versions of Knoppix, if you type 'sudo -s', it will ask for a password. If you simply press return without entering anything, it will tell you 'Authentication Failed."

Hard disk installation:

Open a console window (monitor icon on taskbar) and use the command su then enter the root password.

If you added a user but are unable to 'su' or 'sudo' once logged in as a user, you may not have set a 'root' password during the install process. Reboot with the KNOPPIX disc, mount the harddrive partition that contains your freshly installed KNOPPIX files:

• For me it was
  • mount /dev/hda1
• Change root to harddisk:
  • chroot /mnt/hda1
• Then edit the sudoers file (not 'vi /etc/sudoers' because that's the OS in RAM)
  • visudo
• For an easier editor use:
  • EDITOR=mcedit visudo
• Then change the line:

KNOPPIX       ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL

• to the username you have set up already, example:

bob      ALL=NOPASSWD: All

• Reboot from your harddrive and then create the 'root' password:
  • sudo passwd
• done

• More information:

See : Root (computing) on wikipedia

Q: What is a root directory?

A: See Root directory on wikipedia