Iam new to linux and have been trying to learn my way around in the terminal.The problem is that I can not sign in as root in the terminal.. I type $ su root and Iam asked for my password which type in and the display reads "authentication Failure : Sorry". However this is the same password that I use to sign on with , also it is the same one I use for the Synaptic Package Manager.and it works ok. The linux that I have try is in are xubuntu ,Kubuntu and Edubuntu. All systems do the same thing. Thanks in advance for any help . Bill

I don't think you are supposed to log in as root. You should use sudo <command here>.

I had trouble with the same thing in Xubuntu before and if I remember correctly you need to go to user setup and you can change the root password from there. Ubuntu and other buntu's all supply a generic password till you change it............Been a while but hope this helps.

Hi kotter

First you should set the root password using :
After that you should be able to log in as root.

The 'buntus don't have a 'root' account, as such.
Instead, the first user is given 'sudo' powers. Type sudo before any command requiring root powers, press Return and enter your (user)password. Your root powers normally last 15 minutes, after which you'll have to re-enter your password.
The list of users with sudo powers is found in the /etc/sudoers file which can (and must) be edited with the visudo editor.

This concurs

with the code "sudo passwd "I was able set a root password on each of the
O/S s Good to go now. thanks again Bill