Hello, Pat.
On a default installation of Linux Mint xfce, there is no user group named "administrator" or "administrators". To the best of my knowledge, this statement applies to all current Linux Mint editions.
Therefore adding a new group named "administrator(s)" to your system will not fix any problem that you experience.
The term
administrator(
s) or
admin(
s) is frequently used in the Linux Mint environment in order to refer to those users who have got the privilege of using the
sudo command (
sudo,
gksu,
gksudo) in order to run programmes with root privileges.
By default a user must be a member of the user group
sudo in order to be able to run any command with
root privileges.
Code: Select all
grep sudo /etc/group
sudo:x:27:karl
Whether or not the members of the group
sudo can run commands with
root privileges is determined by the file /etc/sudoers.
Code: Select all
sudo grep "%sudo" /etc/sudoers
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
As you were able to add a new user group to /etc/groups you seem to be able to use
sudo. How else could you have done this with root privileges? Therefore I wonder which privilege it really is that you are missing?
By default the first user created during the Mint installation will be a member of the following groups:
Code: Select all
grep karl /etc/group
adm:x:4:karl
cdrom:x:24:karl
sudo:x:27:karl
dip:x:30:karl
plugdev:x:46:karl
lpadmin:x:109:karl
sambashare:x:127:karl
The crucial entry which allows this user to run commands as root is the membership in the group "sudo", because by default "sudo" is allowed to run any command with root privileges through /etc/sudoers.
As long as you are able to authenticate as root, you can fix the files /etc/group and /etc/sudoers with the help of a text editor manually.
In case you can no longer acquire root privileges, you will have to boot into recovery mode. This will automatically give you access to a root session. Fix anything which needs fixing and reboot back into normal mode.
Kind regards,
Karl