Yet another Ubuntu thread.

A regular user generally is locked out of many folders under any linux install. In order to fix any problems with the system, you generally have to be logged in as the root user.

On the login screen you would do this:

login: root
password: (root password)

then change whatever settings you need, log out, and then log in as a normal user.

A normal user logon should not have write access to any directory except their own by default. Sounds like the permissions are correct in that regard. The "root" user is the all powerful user account (like "Administrator" in the Windows world). As far as printers go, if it's a supported printer it should be a piece of cake. What is the make/model of the printer?

P.S. The Ubuntu web site has it's own forums that would get you a million times more help on Ubuntu.

Most of the modern distros set up a default to prevent you from logging in as root to the gui desktop based on a config in the login manager. Generally, KDE = kdm login manager, Gnome= gdm login manager, and the old standby is xdm. Any of them can be used with any gui, but normally you use the one with your particular desktop. To log into root, just hit to go to a console. You can actually use F2 to F6. F1 is the startup console, and Xwindows should be running on F7. You can toggle between at will, to get back to the gui, just hit .

From the console, log in as root. If you want to be able to log in as root in the gui, you can change it to allow it. You'd have to find the gdm or xdm config file on your own......I haven't used either in years.....so don't know exactly what you would change.

If you use KDE (the kdm login manager), you can change that by:

# cd /usr/kde/3.5/share/config/kdm (or 3.4 or whatever version you are running, Ubuntu may have a different dir structure, so you can look in /usr/kde, or maybe /opt/kde).

# cp kdmrc kdmrc.bak (in case you fuck up)

# vi kdmrc (or whatever editor you use.......I learned on vi, and over the years, learned all the key combos and commands.......so never bothered to use anything else).

You should see a line in there somewhere that says something like "allow root logins",
change it from no to yes, preserving the syntax. If you fudge the file:

# cp kdmrc.bak kdmrc

And try again.

Alternatively, you can be logged into the gui as a user, and there should be somewhere in the menu, an "su" (switch user) function. If not, you can simply open a term window from within the gui and:

# su ( or su - root, which will bring the entire root environment over) and type in your password when prompted. Then:

# xhost + (this will allow any connections to your xsession.......later on, do a RTFM xhost so you can learn more fine grained control).

Now, you can start any of the gui applications from the xterm window, use and "&" to have the process remain in the background:

# foo.sh &

If you don't know the actual executable name of a program........you can find it's menu item and click on "properties". Some distros have a function where you can right click any menu item and "run as".

Type this in exactly then it will work, Or buy windows and not screw with the arcane shit.


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Yeah, this is really proving that Linux is the best and everybody should use it instead of Windows.