what is this root password it keeps askin for? where do i get it from? i have never installed any Unix based OS on my computer before, ive always been running windows. what do i do?

The root password is whatever you set the root password to dureing installation.

the root password is what stop virii infecting files.
it ist the thing upon which the security of the whole system relies.

If you dont know what the password is you can change it by going into single user mode and using the

passwd

command

Have never done this before though so could someone please elaborate

i think you need the root password to drop to single user mode, lol.

but ive heared it can be done by booting a rescue disk, and fiddleing sum stuff.
search google.

duuuuude...
dureing the redhat installation, it will have asked you to give a root password (twice)
cant you remember what you typed ?

no i never put anything in... at first i thought i could enter the same password twice. but at the bottom of the entry box it told me either the password was too short or the password don't match. atleast i know its 6 characters. ive searched google and i have no idea whats left.. i might just give up on the most stable and reliable OS and stick to my "eye-candy" that is XP (XP can lick my sack)

So you did get asked to enter a password then, maybe you put the same password in as your user account.. at a cmd prompt type

# su

And enter the password you typed in at installation. if it goes back to bash and changes the user to root@something then it worked if you get an error the pass was incorrect.

ok thnx guys i figured it out.. i realized this and i felt so stupid...........i had to enter the password twice at installation then it would accept it, i just needed to set the password. man im a n00b, well i have red hat installed and as i type im running it and its gonna take some time to get used to but i love it so far.. goodby windows, hello linux!

i do have one quick question though. the part of disk i had partitioned for linux, is that all the space i have to put files? ie. downloaded files off internet ect.?

you depends on how u partitoned the drive.
i assume you let redhat use its defaults for partitoning and did not edit it ?

if so your linux has 3 partitons...
a boot partiton, containing boot program (100 megabytes)
a swap partion, (swap partitons are faster than swap files (windows) (size = physical RAM multiplied by 2)
and a root partiton, as big as it could make it.
this contains all your programs.

unlike windows, linux is structioed, you cant just save your things whereever you like.
you put all your files in your /home/username directory.
all your programs will save your settings in that directory too.
you emails, everything.
the home directory is the only part of the dist that is writeable to standard users.

which is very usefull, for example, if u want to re-install, just backup your home directory, and all your settings are safe, you could be 50% through a download, completely format the disk and re-install, then continue your download.

anyway... you have a steep leaning curve ahead.
but soon it all becomes second nature.

hmmm well then...thnx for the info its greatly appreciated