[NCLUG] root/superuser pwd question

[Ben West]

I think you misconcieve this.  I prefer not to have a dictionary-attackable
root password -- scrambling root is better, and you'll never send the
passwor din plaintext over an unencrypted connection -- don't set a root
password....

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 6:42 PM, Brian Wood <bwood at beww.org> wrote:

> Mark McCulley wrote:
> > I am working on converting my old Toshiba laptop to a Linux box, and
> > installed a dual-boot of Debian (Hardy Heron).  It's telling me, on
> booting
> > up Linux, that there are updates, and when I try to install them, I get a
> > message that says
> > "E:dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to
> > correct the problem."
> >
> > When I open a terminal window and enter that string, it says I need
> > super-user rights.  However, I don't recall the dual-boot install asking
> me
> > to create a root user/password, and I don't have a record of the pwd.
> > (Maybe I did but was interrupted at a crucial point...)  Have tried
> logging
> > in as root with a few tries at a pwd but to no avail.
> >
> > Is there a way to recover the pwd?
> > Or can I re-install over the original installation (only did it last
> week,
> > so not a lot of changes since then) and start over?
> >
>
> Hardy Heron is Ubuntu, not Debian.
>
> The Ubuntu developers/packagers believe that we are all too stupid to be
> root.
>
> You can do things their way, using sudo, or just:
>
> sudo passwd root
>
> Enter your user password first, then the new root password twice, when
> prompted.
>
> Now you are smart enough to be root :-)
>
> beww
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Benjamin West