Very Computer

Hello,

I just installed Mandrake 7.0 and can't log on as root.  If I log on as the
other account I created during setup, I can then su as root with the correct
password.  I can even change the password and use su again with the new one,
but still can't login from a ghetty prompt. (not using X, btw)

Any ideas?  Any other info I can provide?

Thanks for any help,
Lee

You could check the /etc/securetty file to make sure that it has entries
in it.  If not, root's not allowed to login directly from terminals not
listed in that file.  

Steve

whats in your /etc/securetty??

see "man securetty"

- Jeff

Quote:> You could check the /etc/securetty file to make sure that it has entries
> in it.  If not, root's not allowed to login directly from terminals not
> listed in that file.

> Steve

It was empty.  Removing the file solved the problem.  Odd default for the
setup, in my opinion!  As a newbie, I don't know how long that would've
taken to figure out!

Thanks for the tip.

Lee

Hi Lee,

Just an additional comment -- this was probably dependent on what you chose
for your security level during the Mandrake setup.  I believe if you chose
the high level security the settings for allowing root to logon at a
console were affected.

I recall that during one of my passes over the setup, I read the notes on
the security levels and the highest one was almost paranoid about some
things.  (But, I admittedly cannot recall if this handling of the root
account in the security settings was specifically mentioned.)

--
George J. De Bruin
Check Out 0l0rin's New Age compositions at http://mp3.com/0l0rin
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Quote:> Just an additional comment -- this was probably dependent on what you
chose
> for your security level during the Mandrake setup.  I believe if you chose
> the high level security the settings for allowing root to logon at a
> console were affected.

For what it's worth, I used the text mode setup and don't recall seeing that
setting.  If I had, I certainly wouldn't have chosen it for this particular
machine as it's just an old junker I'm using for learning (no network
access, incl. Internet).  Thanks for the extra feedback.

Lee