First time ubunu user, copying a folder to a root directory

[Mario Vukelic]

On Thu, 2008-05-22 at 09:24 +1030, وفا خلیقی، Vafa Khalighi wrote:
> when I try to copy or say drag and drop a folder to  a root directory,
> It does not allow me to do it.

I'll get back to this later.

>  I activated my root account and I can activate it by writing su in
> the terminal but when I open gdm.conf and change Allowroot=false to
> Allowroot=true, it does not allow me to save it having in mind that I
> entered su in the terminal so I should have a root permision.

I don't know what this has to do with your first question, if anything.
I do know, however, that someone who has these kinds of problems to
overcome, and who has so much to learn as you have, is better off
without a root account, and CERTAINLY without logging in as root via
gdm. 

In fact, EVERYONE is better off by not logging in as root via gdm. NO
knowledgeable user would ever do this, and there is a reason why gdm
does not allow it by default. If you do this, you run all of the GUI
with root privileges, which is VERY insecure. Also, every little error
you make can wreck your machine.

You should read this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

> Can you please tell me how can I copy a folder from desktop to a root
> directory.

My first question would be what you want to achieve. 

The safest way is to issue a copy command as root on the command line:

sudo cp <yourfolder> /

When sudo asks for the password, it wants the one that belongs to your
regular user's account.


I do not recommend the following:

You can run the file manager (nautilus) with root privileges. The best
way to achieve this is to press the Alt+F2 keys on the keyboard
simultaneously. This will display the Run dialog, where you should enter
"gksudo nautilus" end click Run. Enter your regular user's password into
the password dialog.

Then a file manager window with root privileges will start. You can open
additional windows from its File menu, if you need them. Take care,
however, and don't mix them up with your non-root nautilus windows.
Every little mistake you make, such as a slip of the mouse, in root's
window can ruin your installation.