How to Become Root in Linux

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the terminal.

   If the terminal is not already open, open it.
   
   Many distributions allow you to open it by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.
2. 2

   Step 2: Type .su - and press ↵ Enter.

   This will attempt to log you in as "super user." You can actually use this command to log in as any user on the machine, but when left blank it will attempt to log in as root., After typing su
   - and pressing ↵ Enter, you'll be prompted for the root password.
   
   If you get an "authentication error" message, your root account is likely locked.
   
   See the next section for instructions on unlocking it. , When you are logged in as root, the command prompt should end with # instead of $., Once you've used su
   - to log in as root, you can run any commands that require root access.
   
   The su command is preserved until the end of the session, so you don't need to keep re-entering the root password every time you need to run a command. , sudo ("super user do") is a command that lets you run other commands as root temporarily.
   
   This is the best way for most users to run root commands, as the root environment is not maintained, and the user doesn't need to know the root password.
   
   Instead, the user will enter their own user password for temporary root access.Type sudo command and press ↵ Enter (e.g. sudo ifconfig).
   
   When prompted for the password, enter your user password, not the root password. sudo is the preferred method for distributions like Ubuntu, where it will work even when the root account is locked.
   
   This command is limited to users with administrator privileges.
   
   Users can be added or removed from /etc/sudoers.
3. 3

   Step 3: Enter the root password when prompted.

4. 4

   Step 4: Check the command prompt.

5. 5

   Step 5: Enter the commands that require root access.

6. 6

   Step 6: Consider using .sudo instead of su -.

Detailed Guide

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