On Mon 04 Apr 2022 at 08:59:15 (-0400), Noah Sombrero wrote: > On Mon, 04 Apr 2022 05:30:01 +0200, David Wright wrote: > >On Sun 03 Apr 2022 at 21:25:45 (-0400), Noah Sombrero wrote: > >> On Mon, 04 Apr 2022 03:10:01 +0200, Greg Wooledge wrote: > >> >On Sun, Apr 03, 2022 at 07:56:56PM -0400, Noah Sombrero wrote: > >> >> I understand that debian 11 does not establish a root password during > >> >> installation, regardless of what the installer says. > >> > > >> >This is not correct. > >> > >> So much for online help.
> >You don't describe any symptoms of "not establishing a root password". > > True, because I do establish one during installation. > >> >1) The root account has a password, and you can use this to login directly > >> > as root ON A TEXT CONSOLE (not necessarily in a GUI), or to switch to > >> > root with the su command. > > Does not work. > > >> I have installed this debian many times in trying to fix video > >> problems. Not once has an entered password worked. > > > >Without some evidence, the reasons for your difficulties will > >remain undiagnosed. I'm certainly not going to try to guess. > > Thanks for not guessing. > > I have finished reinstalling debian. I did take care to make sure > that I have not disabled access to root during installation. And I > did enter passwords. The situation is as before: no access to root, > no way to establish a password. > > I started it in system restore mode. It was suggested by another > person here that this would take me to root. It does not. It takes > me to my default user account with no elevated privileges. > > >> >2) Your initial user account -- the one you set up during installation -- > >> > will be able to ascend to root privileges with the sudo command. > >> > >> Does not work for me. > >> > >> >In the second case, if you wish to give root a usable password, all you > >> >have to do is run: > >> > > >> >sudo passwd root > >> > >> I get "user is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be > >> reported." > > > >That figures. Obviously you don't fall into the second case, > >but the first. There are simple ways to make case one fail. > >For example, if you configure an inappropriate type of > >keyboard and then reboot, all your password attempts will be > >mistranslated and fail; you might be able to construct a > >translation table by using the username field as a testbed, > >then again you might not. > > > >> Getting entered in the sudoers file seems to require > >> having a root password already. > > > >Obviously it does if you try to do it later, otherwise any > >old user could just put themselves into the file. But if > >you don't set a password during installation, the sudoers > >entry is added for you, by the installer at that time. > > That has always been my beef with linux. It is optimized for the > multi-user environment. Getting it to behave itself in a single-user > environment is a pain. Specifically: don't protect me from myself, > and realize that I am the administrator. It is true that I might > horribly mess things up, in which case, I agree to reinstall linux and > learn something. Hmm. I think the other thread (on Toshiba video) might answer both the complaint in this paragraph, and also your password problem. >From the other thread: "And often online advice is at least 5 years old, usually more. Time enough in the world of debian for things change, change back, invert and circle for a landing. I am adventurous to simply try things. Eventually, usually, something works." "Actually it was from a ubuntu support site 7 years ago, and knowing that ubuntu is derived from debian, it was worth a shot." IOW your methodology seems to be "just try things, hit or miss". Cheers, David.
