How do I get into Admin mode in Control Center?

[Derek Broughton]

From: "Gunny Wallen" <gunnyman at gmail.com>

> Try sudo passwd root and enter a root password.
> After that, su should work and so should administrator mode.

Aargh.  Why is it that nobody seems to be even _interested_ in working with
the system, instead of trying to defeat it?  Do you even really know what
that command does?  It shouldn't be used lightly. The fact that root has no
password is not an oversight in ubuntu.  It's completely intentional.

Peter's problem has nothing to do with sudo and su (well, it _might_ be a
problem with sudo/kdesu, but your "fix" doesn't do anything to show that).

I've seen the same problem - giving the correct password to kdesu after
clicking "administrator mode" results in it going to the parent page, rather
than the samba or "network settings" page, so when you go back to the
correct page you have to try again (until you figure out you're in a loop).

The _correct_ workaround is to start either kcontrol or the relevant sub-app
with kdesu: "kdesu kcontrol".  If you're expecting to modify multiple pages,
this is easier anyway.  Giving root a password and using su doesn't save you
anything over using kdesu (I'm a bit surprised that kcontrol has access to
your display when opened under su - that should be disabled by default,
imo).

The correct _fix_ is to make kcontrol stay on the right page after prompting
for the password.

derek