Ubuntu

login as root

Asked by raygahan

Is it possible to log in as root in such a way as one can drag files into root folders, start install programs etc like in windows or does this always have to be done through the terminal. new to Ubuntu

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Jim Hutchinson
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vlowther (victor-lowther) said : 		#1

In general, you do not want to login as root at all -- you have greater exposure to potential secirity issues if you do so. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo has more information on using the root account and sudo in Ubuntu.

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Best Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#2

You can open up Nautilus (file browser) as root to do file moving and such but it's really easy to mess up permissions that way. In general, if you can't access something you are not supposed to. However, for educational purposes open a terminal and typing

gksudo nautilus

and giving your password will open nautilus with root power. Be very careful. It's possible to really mess things up. Whatever you do, don't change permissions because you think they are wrong (they aren't) or delete stuff that looks unnecessary (it isn't). That is the short ride to a new install.

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Manish Sinha (मनीष सिन्हा) (manishsinha) said : 		#3

It would be better that instead of typing the command at terminal, press Alt+F2 key and you would get a Run Dialog box as of Windows which you get from the start Menu. Type there gksudo nautilus and press enter. In the earlier way,if you close the terminal nautilus (file explorer) would also get closed.
But it is a bad idea to use graphical applications with root privileges for just browsing unless you are sure what you doing.

N.B.: What am telling above is nothing very special, but small mistakes may lead to your way to new install as Jim said above

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raygahan (raygahan) said : 		#4

Thanks for the help.

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raygahan (raygahan) said : 		#5

Thanks Jim Hutchinson, that solved my question.