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Mac Forum / Applications / Other MS Products / January 2008Anybody know the default root password??
I'm new to the Mac and OSX and have OSX 10.2.5. I'm familiar with Unix and Linux so I'm comfortable with the command line. Anyway, I install OSX and go to a command line, type 'su' to become root and find that I don't know the root password. It should still be the default from the installation since I don't know it to change it. Anybody help here or is this blatenly stupid on my part?? Thanx in advance and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Keith aka N3TQV  Signature"There's only one thing better than having a fishing boat, and that's having a buddy who has a fishing boat." > I'm new to the Mac and OSX and have OSX 10.2.5. I'm familiar with Unix and > Linux so I'm comfortable with the command line. Anyway, I install [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! > Keith aka N3TQV Hi Keith! By default the root account is disabled on Mac OS X. Until you enable the root account the root password is blank. I don't recall if 10.2.5 uses the NetInfo Manager utility to enable the root account or not like later Mac OSes but check there first. Rather than using the su command I suggest you use the sudo command from an admin account. Very little in Mac OS X has to be done as the root user. Hope this helps! Signaturebill William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/> Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/> Mr.Smith (If indeed, that is your REAL name ;*) ) Thanx for the reply. I'll try that. As to your comment that the root account is rarely required, I still spend a lot of time in the root account on Linux. I hate the feeling of being shut out of my own system! Comes from my old DOS days, I guess. Thanx again. Keith aka N3TQV >> I'm new to the Mac and OSX and have OSX 10.2.5. I'm familiar with Unix >> and Linux so I'm comfortable with the command line. Anyway, I install [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Hope this helps! Signature"There's only one thing better than having a fishing boat, and that's having a buddy who has a fishing boat." > Mr.Smith (If indeed, that is your REAL name ;*) ) It's especially fun checking into hotels. I walk in, look guilty and say "Smith". > Thanx for the reply. I'll try that. As to your comment that the root > account is rarely required, I still spend a lot of time in the root > account on Linux. I hate the feeling of being shut out of my own system! > Comes from my old DOS days, I guess. Thanx again. You're never shut out if you're logged in as an admin. Sure, you may need to issue the "sudo" command but that's all part of the security of not running as root. Security isn't just password protecting something but also making sure that someone else's processes don't run as root as well as preventing accidents. Actually, on Mac OS X, you should run as a Standard user and you will be prompted for your admin name and password to make system changes (installing applications, etc.). You still rarely need to ever log in as root or even as an admin. I work in a group administering nearly 400 Macs in a corporate environment and have never had to log in with the root account on a user's machine. In the Windows world the same best practices apply and are even more important. Running as a non-admin means that a virus or piece of malware can not execute beyond the user's own privileges. Signaturebill William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/> Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/> Yep, can't argue with your reasoning. As I get more comfortable with getting to where I need to to get things done, I'll migrate to a user login. Thanx again for the direction. Say, while I'm here, what is your experience with OSX 10.2.5? I have tried to run it on my iMac BondiBlue with 192 Meg of memory and it seems sluggish. How much memory will allow it to run efficiently? And please don't tell me the more the better because I have a limited budget. I am using YellowDog 3.2 and it's runnig just fine. Also, I have installed Debian and it too runs OK. Keith >> Mr.Smith (If indeed, that is your REAL name ;*) ) > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > important. Running as a non-admin means that a virus or piece of malware > can not execute beyond the user's own privileges. Signature"There's only one thing better than having a fishing boat, and that's having a buddy who has a fishing boat." A bondi blue has a 4 gig HD unless that has been upgraded, OS X can get a little crowded in there. I think I remember reading that 10.3 worked better on the G3s than the 10.2 John > Yep, can't argue with your reasoning. As I get more comfortable > with getting to where I need to to get things done, I'll migrate [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] >> important. Running as a non-admin means that a virus or piece of malware >> can not execute beyond the user's own privileges. SignatureJohn Gentile MS, M(ASCP) Laboratory Information Mgr. VA Medical Center Providence, RI yjgent@cox.net > A bondi blue has a 4 gig HD unless that has been upgraded, OS X can get > a little crowded in there. I think I remember reading that 10.3 worked > better on the G3s than the 10.2 That sounds right to me too. Panther was a much better handler of resources than Jaguar. All versions of Mac OS X have required higher and higher amounts of RAM compared to their Mac OS cousins. If you're able to squeeze in 512MB then I'd say you have a good chance at running jaguar. But, the more the better! ;-) Signaturebill William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/> Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/> |
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