user # access?

[Robert Heller]

At Wed, 15 May 2019 06:24:39 +0200 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> On Tue, 14 May 2019 23:20:39 -0400 (EDT), Robert Heller wrote:
> >Well, you are not going to able to use a GUI out-of-the-box, unless
> >you login to the GUI as root -- not something that is normally
> >possible with an out-of-the-box install of Ubuntu (and is not
> >something that is recomended even on a Linux distro with a real root
> >login).
> 
> That is generalized nonsense.
> 
> Without root privileges a GUI app such as
> 
>   gparted
> 
> is useless! It is strongly recommended to run the GUI app gparted with
> root privileges!

Yes, but one can use sudo for that. I do that with virt-manager on my CentOS
machine. Using a system *logged in as root to the full GUI desktop* is
dangerous and not recomended, most certainly not for day-to-day use, although
sometimes needed for special admin tasks. The OP is (obviously) something of a
newby and NOT an experienced system admin. The recomendation in his case is to
not login as root -- he is likely to get himself in serious trouble, and for 
what he is doing, there are other, safer options.

> 
> My Ubuntu 16.04 install isn't an OOTB install, but among other I've got
> the
> 
> Ubuntu-Mate 18.04.1 live DVD
> Xubuntu 18.10 live DVD
> Ubuntu-Budgie 19.04 live DVD
> 
> at hand.
> 
> Usually I'm using those live DVDs to backup my Ubuntu 16.04 and Arch
> Linux installs, but sometimes I'm using a GUI with root privileges to
> access home of a user with incompatible UID and GID.
> 
> If a file browser is wanted I recommend to install caja when running
> Xubuntu or Ubuntu-Budgie live media.
> 
>   sudo apt update
>   sudo apt install caja
> 
> Ubuntu-Mate comes with it by default.
> 
> Open the terminal and run
> 
>   sudo -i
> 
> then run
> 
>   caja
> 
> close caja and run another GUI app.
> 
> When not using one of those live DVDs consider to start a X session
> instead of a Wayland session. Install the package gksu. After that
> start GUI apps with gksudo. For example
> 
>   gksudo caja
> 
> Regards,
> Ralf
> 
> 

-- 
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