Logging in as root.

newyorkpaulie · Post by **newyorkpaulie** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:27 pm

In Mint 11 I was able to login as root at the graphical login screen.
In trying out Mint 14 I find that there is a message: "You are not allowed to login as administrator." (or something very similar).
Anyone know how to change this? Yes, I know all about the dangers, but have been using this for years. I know one can use "su" and go from there, but there are times when I want to use the GUI to make my changes, adjustments, etc. and not have to use the command line.

viking777 · Post by **viking777** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:54 pm

but there are times when I want to use the GUI to make my changes, adjustments, etc. and not have to use the command line.

Then login as a normal user and start a gui program as root, that is what the rest of us do - if we need to that is.

You can't login as root unless you create a root account btw.

newyorkpaulie · Post by **newyorkpaulie** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 4:39 pm

Can you explain how you "start a gui program as root" please? Once you've logged in aren't all your gui programs started in "your username"?

Post by **xenopeek** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:09 pm

Press Alt+F2 to open the run dialog, then type the command to launch your program and prefix it with gksudo (or kdesu for KDE). So for example if you want to open Gedit as root, you run:

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit

You are asked for your password and then program will open as root. This limits what accidental stupid things you can do, as only one program is running as root and not all. Aside from the obvious security implications of running as root.

If you insist you want to log in as root, then do so. It's disabled by default but you can allow the system administrator to log in in the Login Window application.

newyorkpaulie · Post by **newyorkpaulie** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:52 pm

You said "you can allow the system administrator to log in in the Login Window application". What app is that... I couldn't find it. It can't be the login screen. Can you point me to it please? Thanks!

Post by **xenopeek** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:19 pm

On Linux Mint 14 it's in your menu, administration section. But on all expect Xfce you can just open your menu and start typing "login window" to find it for you

renatov · Post by **renatov** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:22 am

Menu >> Administration >> Login window >> Security (tab) >> enable "Allow local system administrator login"

But seriously, what you're doing is totally wrong. There are graphical interfaces for su and sudo, like gksu. You should not login as root.

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