Can I change root password by sudo, without su?

Question

I can sudo, but I don't have the root password so I can't su root. Using sudo, can I change the root password?

score 27 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 24 '16 at 14:03

27

So you want to run something like sudo passwd root?

edited Aug 24 '16 at 14:03

Community

1

answered Mar 17 '11 at 12:45

sakisk

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21
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score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 17 '11 at 13:15

18

You can also just use

sudo su

and keep the root account without password.

answered Mar 17 '11 at 13:15

philfr

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2

Once I understood I can do this, I did "passwd -d root". Thanks! – ripper234 Mar 17 '11 at 13:21
But why was my answer downgraded after having been accepted ? – philfr Mar 17 '11 at 15:52

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

8

Try this:

sudo passwd

Note that you also want to log in using su - instead of su (more info).

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

Community

1

answered Mar 17 '11 at 12:43

tshepang

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score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 29 '16 at 21:14

If you have your sudo password then try the following (this is on Ubuntu 14.04LTS):

ewan@user-sbc-ihsw:~$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for ewan: 
root@user-sbc-ihsw:~# passwd
Enter new UNIX password: 
Retype new UNIX password: 
passwd: password updated successfully
root@user-sbc-ihsw:~# whoami
root

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 17 '11 at 14:44

3

you can also use sudo with the "-i" option. this will log you in as root without using the su command.

sudo -i

answered Mar 17 '11 at 14:44

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 17 '11 at 16:31

1

You can change all these options in sudoers file, even make no password if you want( I would not recommend this though).

answered Mar 17 '11 at 16:31

Craab

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Can I change root password by sudo, without su?

6 Answers6