Ubuntu server trouble

[Daniel Mons]

Ubuntu doesn't come with an available root account.  Instead it creates
a primary user with sudo access for administration purposes.

"su" will require the root password (which I believe in Ubuntu is a very
long random string by default, and unlikely to be guessed).  Similarly,
logging in as root won't work either.

Instead, log in as your normal user, and type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

After the initial "sudo" command, you'll be prompted for a password.
This is your normal account password (not the "root" password, which is
unknown).  Again, Ubuntu sets up the user you created at install-time
with sudo access (for temporary privilege escalation).  This gives you
access from the command-line to system tools like apt-get.  All you need
to do is prefix any system-level command with the "sudo" command to gain
the necessary privileges for that one command.

HTH

-Dan


Nathan Herholdt wrote:
> Hi again,
> 
> When I try to login as root or su it says I have an authentication
> problem. Therefore I cannot enter the stage to add the GUI. Could
> someone give me step by step pointers to install.
> 
> Thanks
> Nathan
> VK67DNA
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Simon Wong <simon at dt.net.au>
> To: Junin Toiro <junin.toiro at gmail.com>
> Cc: Nathan Herholdt <zs1nat at yahoo.co.uk>; ubuntu-au at lists.ubuntu.com
> Sent: Wednesday, 9 January, 2008 9:50:56 AM
> Subject: Re: Ubuntu server trouble
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2008-01-09 at 01:02 +1030, Junin Toiro wrote:
>> sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
> 
> I always like to use aptitude instead of apt-get.
> 
> The main reason is that it logs all package changes (well, the
> intentions anyway) in /var/log/aptitude.  This is good for retracing
> your steps when something goes awry.
> 
> It also gives you a nice GUI, albeit a text one for searching for
> packages, reading descriptions and changelogs etc.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> -- 
> Simon Wong BEng MCompSc MACS
> Dependable Technologies Pty Ltd
> 
> [m] +61 (0)438 609 011 [p] +61 (0)7 3369 3627
> [f] +61 7 3009 0431    [e] simon at dt.net.au <mailto:simon at dt.net.au>
> [l] http://www.linkedin.com/in/simonwong
> [w] http://www.dt.net.au
> 
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