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It is very important that you be careful when using the <tt>root</tt> user.
It is very important that you be careful when using the <tt>root</tt> user.


You become root in the [[terminal]] activity, or in a [[Virtual Terminal]] like this:
You become root in the [[terminal]] activity, or in a [[Virtual_terminal|Virtual Terminal]] like this:


su -
su -

Revision as of 17:46, 31 January 2008

root is a user that is currently installed by default. It is the most powerful user on a linux based computer system. It allows you to execute any command that is available to it.

It will even allow you to execute commands that are harmful to your system. For example, you could delete all of the contents of a folder, or important system files by accident.

It is very important that you be careful when using the root user.

You become root in the terminal activity, or in a Virtual Terminal like this:

su -


Note that the Root has been disabled for security purposes on the most recent releases. To enable it, you need to set a password for the root user. The the su page for more info.

See Also

  • su The "su" command
  • sudo The "sudo" command