[SOLVED] Of root and other bits

Hi

I'm yet another boring newbie who cannot find the answer in F1. I am trying to run NetworkManager in terminal but the system tells me I need to be in root. However, when setting the O/S up, there has never been an opportunity to set up root with a password. How can I run NetworkManager as root when I can only sign in as a standard user?

Have u tried going to

System>administration>users and groups and then highlighting root and clicking unlock then go to properties of the root and enter a password?

Prefix the command you're trying to run with sudo. Don't quote.

Enabling the root account is unsupported on these forums, being against Ubuntu policy or something like that, although possible.

ah , well me being a newbie too, that was the only way I could get it to work when i needed to do something and it came up with the message that the account I was on wasn't root.

I did try the su and sudo commands but that didnt work for me either.

prepend *sudo* to the command you want to run as root. (use *gksu* for graphical applications.)

gksu NetworkManager

Hi Silver Fox, Usually when you come across a tutorial that says "Do x as root," it means the tutorial was not written specifically for Ubuntu. To "translate" the tutorial to Ubuntu, simply use the sudo command (as was suggested in your other thread).

For example:

"Log in as root, open a terminal, and type: apt-get install firefox"

Becomes in Ubuntu:

"open a terminal, and type: sudo apt-get install firefox"

It's just the Ubuntu way of accomplishing the same thing.

Doesn't "sudo su" give you equivalent to "root" privileges?

utnubuuser said: Doesn't "sudo su" give you equivalent to "root" privileges?

*sudo su* or *sudo -s* starts a root shell, but keeps the current shell's environment.

*sudo su -* or *sudo -i* gives you roots environment configuration.

sisco@acme:~$ sudo -s
root@acme:~# echo $HOME
/home/sisco
root@acme:~# exit
exit
sisco@acme:~$ sudo -i
root@acme:~# echo $HOME
/root
root@acme:~# exit
logout
sisco@acme:~$