[clug-talk] change root password

[Mark Carlson]

On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 6:06 PM, Michael John Walters
<waltersm at telusplanet.net> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> My friend, Winson, who is also a member of CLUG, received a computer
> from one of the members of CLUG with Ubuntu on it. But Winson does not
> have the root passward.
>
> I have a CD of Ubutntu 10.04 desktop burned on Sunday 2010 June 20.
>
> Is it possible using that CD to change the root password without ever
> knowing the original root password? If so, could you please tell me how
> I could help Winson change the root password to something he can easily
> remember?
>
> What I would do first, is change the root password to something we both
> can easily remember, then set up Winson as user account. Then he can
> change the root password to what he wants it to be.
>
> All the above steps are easy except the first step, to change the root
> password to something we both can remember without ever knowing the
> original root password.
>
> All help is appreciated in advance.
>
> Regards,
>
> Michael

I'm a bit late, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway.

A quick google search for 'Ubuntu root password' provides some
insight... there is no root password on a default Ubuntu installation.
 It is generally not needed, and sudo is normally used instead.

See this page for more details:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

Also, the page shows you the command you need to run to set the root password.

-Mark C.