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gunjan parashar
Asked: 2013-05-25 10:24:36 +0800 CST

ubuntu 13.04 claims my root password wrong

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while opening the bleachbit(as root) , gedbi and bootup- manager , it asks for the root password and on entering the password shows that the password is wrong ,

for other things like updating , installing the software from ubuntu software center the same password works well due this problem i am not able to use boot up manager , gedbi, deepin-software-center and bleachbit (as root ) i am using ubuntu 13.04 with gnome shell and password length is of one letter

13.04

4 Answers

  1. Got it working thank you Alaa

    Run the command gksu-properties and change the "Authentication mode" to "sudo" and close. Now do gksu bleachbit, or whatever GUI application you want to run as root, and type your password (the one you use for updating and installing)

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  2. Probably it is a wrong password for root as there is no root password.

    By default administrative tasks are done with "sudo" command (either in command line interface or in the background) and that means they are run with "root-level privileges" but still by your normal user with normal users password. By default root account is not even activated and if possible one should not activate it.

    So, root password is not supposed to be the same as the password you enter for Software center or when you run commands with sudo in the command line. That is, with the password of the regular user. If that user has administrative rights his/hers password is asked when he/she wants to do anything with administrative rights. Root account is a separate account that has its own separate password. As its no activated by default then by default no root password exist.

    Without activating root account you can get to the root command line by typing "sudo su". But if you are literally asked for root password then it is impossible to give the right answer (if you have not activated root account and assigned password to it).

    Try removing the programmes that ask for root password and reinstall them as the regular user with sudo. Remember "sudo" means regular user with administrative rights and "root" means the "superuser" that is a separate user. Usually when user is prompted for root password the problem is that something was install "as root" (not the same "as sudo") and later those files are being executed or opened by the regular user. That makes it a file permissions issue.

    For an example read this. It is a good example how root and sudo can get mixed up if you don't know what is what.

    Read more about sudo and root in Ubuntu here.

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  3. Ordinarilly you would use gksu instead of sudo to launch gui programs, but as demure said in notes above, this has been deprecated, and you should use pkexec now instead.

    By default this does not support gui programs however. So you need to configure them to run. Once configured you will be able to run them from the command line using:

    pkexec bleachbit

    To configure you need to edit\create the file /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.policykit.pkexec.policy. For example, using nano...

    pkexec nano /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.policykit.pkexec.policy

    You then, for the programs you specify, need to add the following content to the file...

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE policyconfig PUBLIC "-//freedesktop//DTD PolicyKit Policy Configuration 1.0//EN" "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/PolicyKit/1/policyconfig.dtd">
<policyconfig>

<action id="org.freedesktop.policykit.pkexec.run-gedbi">
<description>Run gedbi</description>
<message>Authentication is required to run gedbi</message>
<defaults>
  <allow_any>no</allow_any>
  <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
  <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>
</defaults>
<annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/sbin/gedbi</annotate>
<annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.allow_gui">TRUE</annotate>
</action>

<action id="org.freedesktop.policykit.pkexec.run-bleachbit">
<description>Run bleachbit</description>
<message>Authentication is required to run bleachbit</message>
<defaults>
  <allow_any>no</allow_any>
  <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
  <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>
</defaults>
<annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/sbin/bleachbit</annotate>
<annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.allow_gui">TRUE</annotate>
</action>

</policyconfig>

    You can add additional programs in this way, or if you prefer, there is a bash script for adding additional programs to the config file automatically.

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  4. you need to eyther use gksu or create root password. personaly I do consider sudoers as security issue as most people use one main profile inside sudoers and as such it is likely to have asier password.

    lets not go into debate (flame) about that.

    if you insist in using su instead of sudo you need o set root password using sudo passwd alternatively file a bug against their packers for using su rather then sudo (gksu) though

    Note if it is supprising for me to hear that is asking for root rather then your password.

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