I don't know how Dell ships their pre-installed systems, but I do know that the 'alternate' install of Ubuntu will ask the user to create a default administrator account (including username and password) at first boot. I am only assuming that Dell uses this option. If they do and you created that first account you have no problem.
Ubuntu uses the sudoers list to allow the default user acces to administrative tasks/applications. When attempting to use an administration application and it asks you for your password, enter your regular user password. This only works provided the account you are using is set up as an 'administrator' and not a 'regular user' account.
Do you have a regular user account? Have you tried to type in your own username when you try to use an administration function like Synaptic (System - Package Manager) or when you use sudo from the command line?
I do have my own username and password. Idid some reading and found that one rarely needs to sign in as root.
When I turn on my laptop, I receive the GUI login screen. I enter my username and password and I am at my desktop.
There are two other users that were created. I have a file in a directory which is in my home. I need to place this file into a directory owned by another user.
When I try to copy the file from mine to theirs, I am unable because I do not have permissions for their directory.
How does one assign permissions on file/folders from one the owner to another?
This whole user administration is confusing.
I tried logging with the user who owns the directory and I get a message saying that the account has expired. How do I avoid this? Can I re-create this user without having the account expire?
Now, when I go to a terminal window, I type ls for my account and do not see the directories in File System. I then try to login as another user, I type ls for that account and nothing appears. I guess this means the directory is empty. But, how can it be empty when I go to /home/ it says that this user is the owner? Shouldn't this directory appear under their account when I type ls.
Are you able to get into Ubuntu at all or do you just get a log-in screen? Since Dell installed Ubuntu, they may have set up a "default Admin" ID and you might have missed it in the documentation. If you can get into Ubuntu, then you can click on "System", scroll down to "Groups ... " and click on that. Then you should be able to see the users Dell set up. You can check to see who has what authority. I suspect Dell should have set up your system with Admin authority so you can add new users and perform certain functions such as "sudo" which, BTW, requires Admin authority and is issued from a "Terminal" command line.
If you cannot get into Ubuntu at all and cannot find what Dell assigned as the "admin ID" and password, then you will have to contact Dell. Alternatively, you can try to download (or request) the Ubuntu ISO CD and re-install it yourself. However, Dell may have installed some of its own drivers for networking and other functions. In that case, you need to contact Dell support
One final point. When you install Ubuntu, it prompts you for a userid (for Admin purposes) and a password. This is to allow you to assign new users and perform other Admin type functions such as Updating, Add/Remove applications, running the Synaptic Package Manager, Connecting to a wireless network and other types of functions.
I have found that Ubuntu is a fairly nice system and one that should handle many of your basic functions without problems. However, it is not quite as polished as Windows as far as device support and a few other items (printing is a possibility, depending upon your printer). If you have no problem navigating around all the Windows functions, then you should not have to many problems with Ubuntu. Currently, more companies support WIndows than Linux (Ubuntu) systems. However, as Ubuntu keeps improving and becomes more popular, they (or the Open Source community) will eventually provide more support.
I should have added on my previous reply that when you install Ubuntu, I am not sure what they provide for a password for root. When install Ubuntu (or Wubi - Ubuntu installed in a Windows directory), I find it will accept a user-id of "root", but not take a password and will not let you log-on as "root". I have even gone into "Groups" (click on "System) as an Admin, changed the password for "root", have the change accepted and still not be able to log-on as "root". My Linux/Unix is quite rusty and have not invesgtigated if the password files are still the same or have changed. I do recall that I was able to change the password on a Slackware version of Linux that I had installed on a 486 years ago, but I haven't had the time to go investigate yet to see if it works on Ubuntu (I suspect it should). I have not checked out to see if during bootup I can boot into "text mode" rather than windows. You can try that and see if you can log-on as "root" and then just press "Enter" for password. I seem to recall this worked back when I installed Slackware Linux on my 486.
"I do have my own username and password. Idid some reading and found that one rarely needs to sign in as root."
In Ubuntu, unlike many other Linux Distributions, you can't login as root as there is no "root" account.
There is, however, a command called "sudo" which will allow a user to run root commands - provided they're on the sudo list. When the computer asks you for the "root" password, just use the same password you normally use for your account.
"When I try to copy the file from mine to theirs, I am unable because I do not have permissions for their directory."
This would normally be a good thing right? Am I correct in assuming that what you want to know is how to get that access?
"How does one assign permissions on file/folders from one the owner to another?"
File permissions, the quick and easy way, work like this....
There are three aspects to file permissions in Linux
The Owner The actual account which owns this file or folder.
The Group Like creating a user, you can create a group and add select users to it. If you set the group ownership to that group, all the users of the group have access as determined by the permission levels.
The Permission Levels There are 3 options and 3 levels of access.Your three options are Read/Write, Read Only, or No Access. Your 3 levels of access are (as above), The Owner, The Group and everyone else.
I'll show you what those mean with an example.
Open your home folder (Click on "Places" - "Home" and create a new directory called 'myfiles' (Right click, "Create Folder").
We're going to take a side step for a minute.
First, you'll need to create a new group and this is where you'll get to use the not-really-"root" password.
Click on "System" then "Users and Groups".
Now click on the "Unlock" button at the bottom beside the "close" button.
The computer will ask you for a password.You'll notice that it's actually asking for your account password, not the missing root password. Just type in your regular password. (If you run into a problem here, let me know).
Once you're past that hurdle, you can now click on "Manage Groups".
You're now in the "Groups Settings" window. You'll see a group there called "users". Click on that once.
Now click on "Properties" to change the group properties.
You don't need to change the group ID. 100 is perfectly fine.
You'll also see a set of users for your computer including one called "root" - Do not add "root". Click on the users you want to add to your "users" group and click on "OK". (In the future, You can create even more groups this way, like 'friends' or 'gaming', and make different combinations of users with access to limited other folders etc... But I digress....)
You should be back to the Groups Settings window. Click on "Close" to back out of that window.
You can also use this "Users Settings" window to add or delete any users you would like (OR change their passwords!)
Before you can see the changes that you have made to the new groups, you'll need to log out of your account and then log back in again.
Go back to the "myfiles" folder you created earlier.
Right click on that folder and select 'properties'.
At the top of the properties window there is a tab that will say 'Permissions'.
You'll notice that the owner is set to your account.The Group is also set to your account.
If you change the owner, you can change the owner of the folder. BUT WAIT! If you change the owner, you won't have access to that folder anymore will you?
Remember "The Group" you created earlier? See where this is going?
If you set the group to "users" - all of the users you added to the 'user' group will now have access to that folder as determined by the Folder Access Level that you're about to set. You can also set the level of access for the files in the folder.
There you go! Other users can now copy files into a folder you have access to and you can now copy files you want them to have access to in your 'myfiles' folder.
You can set file access on individual files too! Just right click on the file and select 'Properties' - just like you did here.
Every user account can be setup with a 'myfiles' folder - only if you want to keep it a little more organized, you might want to consider renaming each folder to include a unique name that includes the username in it.
Also, keep in mind that your home folder is kind of the My Documents folder in Windows. It's not at the root of the directory structure. Your Home folder is actually /home/username So your newly created file is actually at /home/username/myfiles
The rest of the users files are at
/home/user1 /home/user2 /home/user3 etc....
There is a way to set this up automatically for every user you add, but that's only necessary if you plan on adding more than 10 or so user accounts. (In case anyone else is curious, See /etc/skel for more info).
Now about that file "push" ...
from the command line try this.... (Substitute 'username' for the username of the user's account you want to push a file to).
sudo mkdir /home/username/myfiles
sudo chown username /home/username/myfiles
sudo chgrp users /home/username/myfiles
sudo chmod 774 /home/username/myfiles
Or, if you're more comfortable with a GUI, you can launch Nautilus as "root" by running the command
It sounds to me like oracle (which I have very very little experience with) requires it's own user account and more than likely group as well. So create the user account first, that will automatically create the group and the folder you need.
As for needing to be in the "home" directory which is owned by the non-existent "root"; Oracle requires that the product be installed in a home directory. The syntax used is /home/oracle.
The problem occurred when I downloaded the zip file, the file was saved to my Desktop. The download wouldn't let me choose a directory. So, I needed to move the zip file to the /home/oracle directory so I can do what I need to do. In trying to copy, I was prompted with an error message that I do not have permissions to /home.
So, in order for me to install this software, I need to have access to /home.
You are correct. Oracle requires you to create a user typically called oracle. And the "oracle" user will need to belong to a group called "dba".
Before the actual installation, there's a bunch of commands that you need to run from a terminal window - only. One of those commands has to do with creating the "oracle" user and "dba" group. Yet, when I try to log into Ubuntu with the "oracle" user; it tells me the user account is expired and won't let me in.
Yet again, when I log in as myself and I go to Users and Groups; the "oracle" user appears in the list.
I am having a tough time connecting the dots with all this. I wish I could find some documentation that explains how creating a user via terminal and creating a user via GUI (Users and Groups) are connected. Why would the "oracle" user work only in terminal and not in GUI. Yet, my username works in both places using the same password.
The "root" user account in Ubuntu does exist. The password is set randomly at install time because you should never need it. But you'll find roots home directory at "/root". So far as i know in Linux /root is always kept seperate from /home.
If you need to perform admin work, and you will to install software, you can use sudo on the command line or gksudo in the run dialog box. Just place those before every command. You'll be prompted for your password the first time around.
Example 1: sudo cp /home/user1/a_file /home/user2/a_file ... will copy a_file from user1s home directory to user2s home directory.
Example 2: In the run dialog (Alt+F2) type gksudo nautilus to run nautilus with root privilages.You should notice your location is now /root and not /home/whatever_your_home_is.
Working with sudo or gksudo can take a little getting used to. But you don't lose any functionality so far as I can tell and it stops people logging in with full root privilages all the time. So it's somewhat more secure.
I have a desktop with Ubuntu 7.04 (wubi), a lap-top with 7.04 (also wubi, but in its own partition) and another lap-top with a Ubuntu 8.04 (dedicated). In all cases, "sudo" and 'gksudo" does NOT work. I have devices where I tried to assign ownership to an ADMIN user so I could issue mount commands - can't do it. I also wanted to issue R/W privilege to a specific user for the XP partition - couldn't do it. In most cases "sudo" (or gksudo nautilus) "went throughthe motions", but failed. Likewise when trying to copy files to the XP directories. I have performed other operations successfully using "sudo" and "gksudo". I suspect for those that failed, I could have had success if I was able to log-on as "root". I have an external HD that I wanted to use for backup. I cannot get write access for the backup and neither sudo nor gksudo will grant write access to the external HD. I have had to use XP on my desktop and one lap-top to backup. On the other lap-top, I have had to use multiple flash drive copys to store in an XP directory (on my desk-top) so I could back up.
Are you saying I cannot logon to my pc? I just don't remember my password for the users I created since root is not allowed. I am not sure I have to reinstall the whole operating system! I feel the headache already.
The easiest way to the command line is to use the "recovery" option found in your Grub boot loader or else boot from your installation CD and add an extra boot parameter "rescue".
It will prompt you to enter a new password. Reboot and login with the new password.
Strixy
34 Posts
0
August 9th, 2008 22:00
I don't know how Dell ships their pre-installed systems, but I do know that the 'alternate' install of Ubuntu will ask the user to create a default administrator account (including username and password) at first boot. I am only assuming that Dell uses this option. If they do and you created that first account you have no problem.
Ubuntu uses the sudoers list to allow the default user acces to administrative tasks/applications. When attempting to use an administration application and it asks you for your password, enter your regular user password. This only works provided the account you are using is set up as an 'administrator' and not a 'regular user' account.
Strixy
34 Posts
0
August 10th, 2008 00:00
Do you have a regular user account? Have you tried to type in your own username when you try to use an administration function like Synaptic (System - Package Manager) or when you use sudo from the command line?
fullfocus
1 Rookie
•
18 Posts
0
August 10th, 2008 00:00
When I received my laptop from Dell, I was never prompted for an administrator username and password. I have no way knowing what Dell did.
fullfocus
1 Rookie
•
18 Posts
0
August 11th, 2008 08:00
Hi,
I do have my own username and password. Idid some reading and found that one rarely needs to sign in as root.
When I turn on my laptop, I receive the GUI login screen. I enter my username and password and I am at my desktop.
There are two other users that were created. I have a file in a directory which is in my home. I need to place this file into a directory owned by another user.
When I try to copy the file from mine to theirs, I am unable because I do not have permissions for their directory.
How does one assign permissions on file/folders from one the owner to another?
This whole user administration is confusing.
I tried logging with the user who owns the directory and I get a message saying that the account has expired. How do I avoid this? Can I re-create this user without having the account expire?
Now, when I go to a terminal window, I type ls for my account and do not see the directories in File System. I then try to login as another user, I type ls for that account and nothing appears. I guess this means the directory is empty. But, how can it be empty when I go to /home/ it says that this user is the owner? Shouldn't this directory appear under their account when I type ls.
Bobc4012
4 Posts
0
August 11th, 2008 08:00
Are you able to get into Ubuntu at all or do you just get a log-in screen? Since Dell installed Ubuntu, they may have set up a "default Admin" ID and you might have missed it in the documentation. If you can get into Ubuntu, then you can click on "System", scroll down to "Groups ... " and click on that. Then you should be able to see the users Dell set up. You can check to see who has what authority. I suspect Dell should have set up your system with Admin authority so you can add new users and perform certain functions such as "sudo" which, BTW, requires Admin authority and is issued from a "Terminal" command line.
If you cannot get into Ubuntu at all and cannot find what Dell assigned as the "admin ID" and password, then you will have to contact Dell. Alternatively, you can try to download (or request) the Ubuntu ISO CD and re-install it yourself. However, Dell may have installed some of its own drivers for networking and other functions. In that case, you need to contact Dell support
One final point. When you install Ubuntu, it prompts you for a userid (for Admin purposes) and a password. This is to allow you to assign new users and perform other Admin type functions such as Updating, Add/Remove applications, running the Synaptic Package Manager, Connecting to a wireless network and other types of functions.
I have found that Ubuntu is a fairly nice system and one that should handle many of your basic functions without problems. However, it is not quite as polished as Windows as far as device support and a few other items (printing is a possibility, depending upon your printer). If you have no problem navigating around all the Windows functions, then you should not have to many problems with Ubuntu. Currently, more companies support WIndows than Linux (Ubuntu) systems. However, as Ubuntu keeps improving and becomes more popular, they (or the Open Source community) will eventually provide more support.
Bobc4012
4 Posts
0
August 11th, 2008 08:00
Strixy
34 Posts
0
August 11th, 2008 20:00
In Ubuntu, unlike many other Linux Distributions, you can't login as root as there is no "root" account.
There is, however, a command called "sudo" which will allow a user to run root commands - provided they're on the sudo list. When the computer asks you for the "root" password, just use the same password you normally use for your account.
This would normally be a good thing right? Am I correct in assuming that what you want to know is how to get that access?
File permissions, the quick and easy way, work like this....
There are three aspects to file permissions in Linux
The Owner
The actual account which owns this file or folder.
The Group
Like creating a user, you can create a group and add select users to it. If you set the group ownership to that group, all the users of the group have access as determined by the permission levels.
The Permission Levels
There are 3 options and 3 levels of access.Your three options are Read/Write, Read Only, or No Access. Your 3 levels of access are (as above), The Owner, The Group and everyone else.
I'll show you what those mean with an example.
Open your home folder (Click on "Places" - "Home" and create a new directory called 'myfiles' (Right click, "Create Folder").
We're going to take a side step for a minute.
First, you'll need to create a new group and this is where you'll get to use the not-really-"root" password.
Click on "System" then "Users and Groups".
Now click on the "Unlock" button at the bottom beside the "close" button.
The computer will ask you for a password.You'll notice that it's actually asking for your account password, not the missing root password. Just type in your regular password. (If you run into a problem here, let me know).
Once you're past that hurdle, you can now click on "Manage Groups".
You're now in the "Groups Settings" window. You'll see a group there called "users". Click on that once.
Now click on "Properties" to change the group properties.
You don't need to change the group ID. 100 is perfectly fine.
You'll also see a set of users for your computer including one called "root" - Do not add "root". Click on the users you want to add to your "users" group and click on "OK". (In the future, You can create even more groups this way, like 'friends' or 'gaming', and make different combinations of users with access to limited other folders etc... But I digress....)
You should be back to the Groups Settings window. Click on "Close" to back out of that window.
You can also use this "Users Settings" window to add or delete any users you would like (OR change their passwords!)
Before you can see the changes that you have made to the new groups, you'll need to log out of your account and then log back in again.
Go back to the "myfiles" folder you created earlier.
Right click on that folder and select 'properties'.
At the top of the properties window there is a tab that will say 'Permissions'.
You'll notice that the owner is set to your account.The Group is also set to your account.
If you change the owner, you can change the owner of the folder. BUT WAIT! If you change the owner, you won't have access to that folder anymore will you?
Remember "The Group" you created earlier? See where this is going?
If you set the group to "users" - all of the users you added to the 'user' group will now have access to that folder as determined by the Folder Access Level that you're about to set. You can also set the level of access for the files in the folder.
There you go! Other users can now copy files into a folder you have access to and you can now copy files you want them to have access to in your 'myfiles' folder.
You can set file access on individual files too! Just right click on the file and select 'Properties' - just like you did here.
Every user account can be setup with a 'myfiles' folder - only if you want to keep it a little more organized, you might want to consider renaming each folder to include a unique name that includes the username in it.
Also, keep in mind that your home folder is kind of the My Documents folder in Windows. It's not at the root of the directory structure. Your Home folder is actually /home/username So your newly created file is actually at /home/username/myfiles
The rest of the users files are at
/home/user1
/home/user2
/home/user3
etc....
There is a way to set this up automatically for every user you add, but that's only necessary if you plan on adding more than 10 or so user accounts. (In case anyone else is curious, See /etc/skel for more info).
Now about that file "push" ...
from the command line try this.... (Substitute 'username' for the username of the user's account you want to push a file to).
sudo mkdir /home/username/myfiles
sudo chown username /home/username/myfiles
sudo chgrp users /home/username/myfiles
sudo chmod 774 /home/username/myfiles
Or, if you're more comfortable with a GUI, you can launch Nautilus as "root" by running the command
sudo nautilus
Happy file pushing!
Strixy
34 Posts
0
August 11th, 2008 21:00
It sounds to me like oracle (which I have very very little experience with) requires it's own user account and more than likely group as well. So create the user account first, that will automatically create the group and the folder you need.
fullfocus
1 Rookie
•
18 Posts
0
August 11th, 2008 21:00
Hi,
Thank you for the example. I will give it a try.
As for needing to be in the "home" directory which is owned by the non-existent "root"; Oracle requires that the product be installed in a home directory. The syntax used is /home/oracle.
The problem occurred when I downloaded the zip file, the file was saved to my Desktop. The download wouldn't let me choose a directory. So, I needed to move the zip file to the /home/oracle directory so I can do what I need to do. In trying to copy, I was prompted with an error message that I do not have permissions to /home.
So, in order for me to install this software, I need to have access to /home.
fullfocus
1 Rookie
•
18 Posts
0
August 11th, 2008 22:00
You are correct. Oracle requires you to create a user typically called oracle. And the "oracle" user will need to belong to a group called "dba".
Before the actual installation, there's a bunch of commands that you need to run from a terminal window - only. One of those commands has to do with creating the "oracle" user and "dba" group. Yet, when I try to log into Ubuntu with the "oracle" user; it tells me the user account is expired and won't let me in.
Yet again, when I log in as myself and I go to Users and Groups; the "oracle" user appears in the list.
I am having a tough time connecting the dots with all this. I wish I could find some documentation that explains how creating a user via terminal and creating a user via GUI (Users and Groups) are connected. Why would the "oracle" user work only in terminal and not in GUI. Yet, my username works in both places using the same password.
This is all confusing.
aikiwolfie
51 Posts
0
August 21st, 2008 13:00
The "root" user account in Ubuntu does exist. The password is set randomly at install time because you should never need it. But you'll find roots home directory at "/root". So far as i know in Linux /root is always kept seperate from /home.
If you need to perform admin work, and you will to install software, you can use sudo on the command line or gksudo in the run dialog box. Just place those before every command. You'll be prompted for your password the first time around.
Working with sudo or gksudo can take a little getting used to. But you don't lose any functionality so far as I can tell and it stops people logging in with full root privilages all the time. So it's somewhat more secure.
riskad
3 Posts
0
August 30th, 2008 21:00
I have a desktop with Ubuntu and not used it for a while. Now I cannot remember my password.
Is there any way I can logon? I am helpless..
Thanks
Bobc4012
4 Posts
0
August 31st, 2008 07:00
I have a desktop with Ubuntu 7.04 (wubi), a lap-top with 7.04 (also wubi, but in its own partition) and another lap-top with a Ubuntu 8.04 (dedicated). In all cases, "sudo" and 'gksudo" does NOT work. I have devices where I tried to assign ownership to an ADMIN user so I could issue mount commands - can't do it. I also wanted to issue R/W privilege to a specific user for the XP partition - couldn't do it. In most cases "sudo" (or gksudo nautilus) "went throughthe motions", but failed. Likewise when trying to copy files to the XP directories. I have performed other operations successfully using "sudo" and "gksudo". I suspect for those that failed, I could have had success if I was able to log-on as "root". I have an external HD that I wanted to use for backup. I cannot get write access for the backup and neither sudo nor gksudo will grant write access to the external HD. I have had to use XP on my desktop and one lap-top to backup. On the other lap-top, I have had to use multiple flash drive copys to store in an XP directory (on my desk-top) so I could back up.
riskad
3 Posts
0
September 1st, 2008 00:00
Are you saying I cannot logon to my pc? I just don't remember my password for the users I created since root is not allowed. I am not sure I have to reinstall the whole operating system! I feel the headache already.
Strixy
34 Posts
0
September 1st, 2008 16:00
There a several ways to recover your passwords.
Get to the command line and issue this oneliner
passwd username
The easiest way to the command line is to use the "recovery" option found in your Grub boot loader or else boot from your installation CD and add an extra boot parameter "rescue".
It will prompt you to enter a new password. Reboot and login with the new password.
To reboot from the command line use
shutdown -r now