When logged in as user, the administrator password isn't recognized.

When you type a password in it usually wont show stars in case anyone is trying to see how long you password is. It just silently accepts what you type ;)

Hope this solves it for you?
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Dohhh, i just realised that you're probably trying to use the SuperUser/Root password for things like "sudo", "Synaptic", "Partition Editor" and stuff like that. Ubuntu doesn't like too many people having to know the SuperSecret password but it does like people to be able to get on and use the machine. So it compromises and asks for the normal user password - except in certain rare cases which are well worth avoiding anyway.

I thought i'd better include this next link just in case you're having a bit more of a serious problem
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/resetpassword

Good luck and regards again from
Tom :)

I haven't gotten that far. For instance, I set the firestarter firewall to open by default, by opening a terminal and using commands from a tutorial. I can do this logged on as admin. When I tried as user, I get the error message, even if I use admin password, user password, even when I set a password for root and tried it. I have no problems at all when giving the user account admin privilege. I would like to just log on as user, be safer, and still be able to things. It may be just the way this thing works, but not being familiar, I don't really know. Thanks, Tom, for your input. I looked at the link, but found nothing helpful.
I just got a ubuntu pocket guide. Maybe I should read it before I get too far. I appreciate your suggestions. Thanks again, J

Normally we avoid logging in as Root/SuperUser at all but sometimes do a couple of commands as Root and then quickly close whichever console was open so that we are back to normal user. I set-up firestarter almost entirely as a normal user, i had to let Synaptic Package Manager do it's installing as Root but after that i was normal user to sort out all the settings.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

I'm still not sure i'm actually helping with this so i might not answer your next post in order that the question remains "Open" rather than "Answered"

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Thanks, Tom. I have managed to get the firestarter program working, and I can manage to do, so far, whatever I've needed to. I'm not sure I'm asking my question in the right way, though. For example: firestarter is set up to boot up when logged on. Although the icon doesn't show, I read somewhere that it is running anyway. But to get the icon up I go to the Systems, Administration, Firestarter and click. I get the GUI box asking for a password.
When I enter the admin password, I get "Incorrect Password, Try Again" As many times as I enter it, I get the same response.
However, if I enter the user password, I get, each time, "Failed to run, Sudo does not allow you to run this program, contact your administrator."
So, my question is: what would I need to do to get the system to recognize my admin password while logged on as 'user', not for this particular application, but for any? It doesn't seem to matter whether it's GUI or terminal, it won't take in either case.
The exception is that if I give 'user' admin privilege, then it works using 'user' password, but not admin password, and that is basically what I've been doing. It's not a critical puzzle, but a puzzle nevertheless. I think I will probably just not overly concern myself with it.
All in all, this computer has never worked as fast and trouble free. I really like Ubuntu and Firefox.
Many thanks for your time and thoughts, Jim

Hmmm, sounds like something is definitely not working properly. Please can you login as normal user and go up to the top taskbar click on

System - Administration - Synaptic Package Manager

now it asks for your password but your normal user password should work here. Please let me know if your normal user password gets you into Synaptic

Regards from
Tom :)

When logged on as user, that option, Synaptic Package Manager, is not listed in the dropdown, however, it is when logged on as admin. Jim

Yes, Windows background for sure. I'll give the reinstall a go, using the new information.

Thanks again. Your time and patience are much appreciated, Jim

You're welcome. For me it was abut 5th time i installed a linux that i finally understood and got everything working. I tried Mandriva first a few times, then Ubuntu 64bit and then Wolvix Hunter
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wolvix
this one finally made the dual-boot install process really make a lot more sense. Then i came back to Ubuntu 32bit desktop and it was easy then. I think experience of installing and getting Windows working had got me into some bad habits. If you can give Wolvix Hunter a go then it might help you too. It's quite fast from download to completed install. I hope its 2nd or 3rd time lucky for you ;)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

I am unsure whether I should open a new thread - my question is worded identically.

I installed ubuntu and created my account 'ben' and have no problems working there.

I created a new account 'mind' which has no sudo authority, and here is where my issues lie.

When logged in as 'mind', I cannot launch 'synaptic' because it does not recognise 'ben' password.

Is this clear? Okay, similarly I can run 'Users and Groups' users-admin - and (as 'mind') I have no authority to do anything here, however a different password applet appears now, and I can log in as any user to authorise and unlock the action.

It would appear that this is the proper way to do things and is not yet implemented in the synaptic manager - am I correct in assuming this?

In order to use synaptic, I must open terminator, do 'su ben' and then as ben I can 'sudo synaptic'. My problem is that this is not how it should work - the applet to input password/select the user should be available for any application.

When I right click an application, there is an option to 'run as Administrator' - however, you must BE the administrator to do that, so this option is flawed. Preferably, the option should be to 'run as...' and then a selection of users should be available. (It would be possible to have three administrator accounts with separate passwords which can all be used to manage computers at the school where I am working for example).

Hmm, definitely a lot of confusion here. My answers in this thread are somewhat unclear so there's no surprise there.

Your normal user account is "ben", although it's an "Administrator" account that doesn't mean the same thing in linux as it means in Windows. In linux the equivalent is called "SuperUser" or "Root". It's worth avoiding being SuperUser but sometimes it's necessary, especially when first setting up your system.

When you use "mind" and try to open "Synaptic" then the password it asks for will be your normal one for "mind", the "ben" password is irrelevant. Linux is designed for multiple users and is very careful to avoid any user needing another users password. In Ubuntu and some others the "sudo" command means that each user will only ever need the 1 password each. Various things such as "Synaptic", "Users and Groups" and such will require that a user re-enters their own password again, not the super-user's password, not any other user, just their own password. Effectively they are using the "sudo" command.

"mind" should never be able to use the "ben" password to do anything. When "mind" types the "ben" password it should produce an error along the lines of "password not recognised"

It does sound as though the "run as Administrator" option is weird, i can't find it on my system but then i only have the one normal user account (and root of course). Does it ask for a password? That, again, should be "mind"s password, not "ben"s, if you are using the "mind" account.

Err, i dunno why i can't find a good clear way to describe what i mean sorry. I think this is best posted as a new question. Questions in Launchpad tend to be quite time dependant - people only really tend to look at questions when they are first posted
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)