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Root (#)vs user($) name conflict?

Former Member

Long story short I have setup my user on my pre loaded OS Dabian as pi Which would seem to been the root name also, so I do not seem to be able to login as root.

My question is : Can I recover this or will I have to start again with a fresh image?  Having some difficulty with win32Diskimager just now all in good time I guess.

  • You can switch to root by executing sudo -s

     

    Mike

  • The default user "pi" is not really the same as the "root" user, but is an admin user that can do any command as root using sudo prefix, or can act as root by doing what Michael said.

     

    It is NOT a good idea to run as root all the time, because one typing error could possibly erase all files on the system.  But it is perfectly safe to run as user pi, where all you can erase is you own files, as long as you are extra careful what you type when using sudo.

  • Hello! If you're coming from Microsoft Windows XP platform (not Windows 7+), the default pi account in Raspbian OS is like the primary user account (the one you created) when installing (Windows XP). It is given adminstrator (admin/root) rights, that's how you are able to install software without entering a password. The pi account is just like Windows XP's default user account.

    Before continuing, you may want to unlock the root account and make a password for it. Using the default pi account, enter sudo passwd root to create/modify the root password.

    To change that, enter sudo visudo as a normal user ($) account, such as pi, and remove NOPASSWD: strings. If you really want to seperate pi from root, then delete the line with pi in it by pressing Ctrl-K keys. Then save with Ctrl-O [enter] and Ctrl-X [enter].

    Once you deleted pi from visudo, you can access the root by typing su - at the normal user ($) prompt.

     

    Generally, you can use nearly all the non-root/non-admin apps without having to have root access.image

     

    Hopefully, this helps out.

  • Wow! Thanks for the help much aprecated.

    I got the PI as a Xmas gift and it is a wee bit beyond my current computing skills but I am egar to get stuck in, learn and develope some awsome projects. Its good to know there is help so readly at hand. Thanks again.

     

    P.S any one got any segested reading materials for a PI/Dabian Beginer?

  • in reply to Former Member

    P.S any one got any segested reading materials for a PI/Dabian Beginer?

     

    * There is an *Offical* Pi user manual avaliable for download from the Amazon book store (you have to buy it - no surprises there image).

     

    * Otherwise, there is always here (On the forums) and the wiki: http://elinux.org/RPi_Hub

     

    * Google image image

     

    If all else fails, you can always play around and see what happens.  After all, all you need to do is just reflash the SD card and away you go again.