Unable to use "sudo" [SOLVED]

[yngum]

Before I begin, I want to inform you that I just installed Linux Mint 17 and I have no idea what I'm doing.

As you read on the title, I cannot use "sudo"
Whenever I try, the terminal says: "sudo: unable to open /var/lib/sudo/yngum/0: No such file or directory"
When I tried to go to /var/lib/sudo in the actual file, it says that I don't have permission.

Also, can someone teach me how to disable touchpad while typing? It's getting really annoying.

What can I do about this?
Thanks

[Reorx]

Before I begin, I want to inform you that I just installed Linux Mint 17 and I have no idea what I'm doing.

As you read on the title, I cannot use "sudo"

This is probably a good thing considering your first statement!

sudo, preceding a command, allows you to run the command as the "super user" aka root. You can do a lot of damage with sudo so it is wise to exercise care in its use... In order to be careful, you have to know at least a little about what you are trying to do...

When you type sudo followed by a command, the system will ask you for a password. Only passwords for administrative users will allow you to "sudo" successfully. When you type the password in a terminal, IT WILL NOT ECHO to (be shown on) the screen and NO CHARACTERS will be shown on the screen... it will look as though you are not typing anything at all - THIS IS NORMAL (hopefully, this information will prevent another thread about why your console is not responding after you type sudo plus a command)...

Regular users do not have permission to anything of any significance on the "system" but they have complete control over everything in their home folder. When you open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t or through the menu), it will open in your home folder (/home/username).

Hope this is useful...

[yngum]

When you type the password in a terminal, IT WILL NOT ECHO to (be shown on) the screen and NO CHARACTERS will be shown on the screen... it will look as though you are not typing anything at all

I figured that out after few moments of trying type my invisible password when I first tried to use the terminal.
So, no, I did typed my password in (correctly, otherwise the terminal will say "Sorry, try agian.") and I am still getting that error.
I'm considering reinstalling the whole thing if I fail to solve this problem in few days.
Thank you for your reply.

Edit: I just tried to open Software Manager from menu, then I got error saying: "Failed to run mintinstall as user root. Unable to copy the user's Xauthorization file" I hope that helps.

[altair4]

You might consider reinstalling anyway since if you just installed Mint none of this should be happening to you.

As a last resort look at the permissions of Xauthority:

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ls -al $HOME/.Xauthority

It should be this:

-rw------- your-user-name your-user-name

If it says the file doesn't exist create it:

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touch $HOME/.Xauthority

If it does exist but it's not owned by you:

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sudo chown your-user-name:your-user-name $HOME/.Xauthority

Change your-user-name to your login user name.

Then make sure it has the correct permissions:

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chmod 0600 $HOME/.Xauthority

Something like this happens when you use sudo to open a grahical application ( as in "sudo gedit" ) instead of using gksu ( as in "gksu gedit" ).

[turtlebay777]

Open terminal and copy this into it (copy and paste so you get the spaces in the right place), then hit enter.

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apt-get  update

[yngum]

I tried the permissions thing and it seems I'm good with it for now.
And for the update, I'm keep getting this:

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Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty InRelease
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security InRelease                       
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates InRelease                         
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release.gpg                     
Ign http://extra.linuxmint.com qiana InRelease                                 
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com qiana InRelease                              
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release.gpg                               
Ign http://archive.canonical.com trusty InRelease                              
Ign http://extra.linuxmint.com qiana Release.gpg                               
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release                         
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release.gpg                       
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com qiana Release.gpg                            
Ign http://archive.canonical.com trusty Release.gpg                            
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com qiana Release                                
Hit http://archive.canonical.com trusty Release                                
W: Not using locking for read only lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock           
E: Couldn't create temporary file to work with /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.canonical.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty_Release - mkstemp (30: Read-only file system)
W: Not using locking for read only lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock

the length of this sometimes changes. When I try to do it agian, the terminal automatically closes itself.
Also, sometimes the terminal minimize while I'm typing, this might be because of touchpad.
I think I'll reinstall soon and see if that helps, I'll leave this case as sloved for now. If I still have this problem after reinstalling, I'll reopen this post.
Thank you everyone