root login

[Berticus]

This forum has really helped me out a lot. I did a search of this topic with different keywords, and I just couldn't find an answer.

Is there a way to log-in as root while in runlevel 5 or any other graphical interface? I tried it once and it said root isn't allowed to log-in or something like that.

I don't mean just switching users in terminal with su, I mean really, really log-in as root.

[Jeroen]

By default, you cannot do so in graphical user interfaces like gdm/xdm/kdm into kde/gnome/whatever. YOu can switch to your consoles with ctrl+alt+F1-6 though, and login as root there, in case there is a problem graphically.

Otherwise, just use su/sudo in graphical mode. All those gnome and kde libs and user-daemons are not designed for running as root, and it's strongly discouraged from running them as root. They can then way too easily inadvertedly do evil things to the system.

[dawgie]

T
Is there a way to log-in as root while in runlevel 5 or any other graphical interface? I tried it once and it said root isn't allowed to log-in or something like that.

If you are using gdm as a login manager, you can change the settings.
Run the gdmconfig program:
# gdmconfig
In the security tab, then select the box "Allow root to Login With Gdm".
or
edit your /etc/gdm/gdm.conf file. Find the [security] section and change "AllowRoot=false" to "AllowRoot=true".

[anon]

Note that the restriction wasn't set up to annoy, apps like synaptic that needs root will prompt you for a password (using gksu), and you can always (as you figured) open a shell, su (or sudo) and run any gui app from there.