Root password doesn't work in terminal

Hi,

I have this problem:
when root password is required in a graphical interface it works and no problem;
conversely when I have to insert it in the terminal I always get
Sorry, try again.

It sounds like there is a difference in keyboard layout within Gnome/KDE and the terminal/system.

What happens if you boot into runlevel 3 and then login as root?

Yes!

I can login as root if i boot into runlevel3..

Then there is something not alright with the configuration of the useraccount / bash terminal.
You could check the settings of the terminal. There is an option within the profile settings about "compatibility" that will restore settings.

I've tried, but nothing!!

I've opened a terminal, Edit > Preferences > Compatibility and than "Restore the default values".

(my system language is Italian and the translation may be wrong)

Hi,
basically, as i gathered from what you say, you can login onto root in runlevel 3, in runlevel 5 you can login to as root to your gnome/kde session - right?

In order, to exclude any typos and any national specific characters - can you log to runlevel 3, change pw there to some 100% OK pw now influenced by your national characters? Then switch back to runlevel 5 and try in terminal:

'su -'


cheers,

Can one also do it like this ?

Just restart your machine and follow the steps:

1. At the boot(grub) menu select the linux kernel

2. then press e

3. Go to the end of the line

4. add 1 or S or Single at the end of the line

5. press enter

6. press b on the line to boot from that line

7. Now the root prompt will come

8. run the command 'passwd' and it will ask you to change your password for root

Ok, done!!

the terminal recognize root passwd, but only when I do
su -

If I try to run a command as root typing
sudo blah_blah
the terminal always gives me an error
Sorry, try again.

Than it seems that you need to configure sudo

I have never bothered with sudo.

http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/BecomingRoot

Richard,
the RHEL and its clones is quite conservative distribution let's say :-).
If you wanna log onto root, use the 'su -', execute commands you need, log out.
In Ubuntu root is not accessible, i think (i dont work on *buntu), so all is run through 'sudo'.
This is surely safer, for starting linux users, but it has limitations.

When we use 'su -', we feel the power of cli and are responsible for our actions (cd /; rm -rf *)
Please (newbie linux users) dont run above on your PC if you dont know what it does (deleting all)

cheers,

This post has been edited by helikaon: Jul 6 2011, 07:04 AM

I just tried the command you mentioned and now my computer appears to run twice as fast!!

Thanks for the great suggesti@#%%%()*%@##$$ Fatal error, connection lost.

Oh my,
and noone ever thought to make no 'howto' on this??

shame!

Thanks a lot for the explanations!!

I'm an actual noob!!!

As soon as I have reinstalled my SL6 system from scratch (which somehow got misteriously wiped after running twice as fast for a few moments) I will write the how-to!

I don't think so, real noobs don't even know that they are noobs, you know far more than 99% of all PC users (all the Windows and Mac users) already!

I know that I know nothing, but I do know this .. (With compiz cylinder)