Unable to re-enable root user

mcroninmcronin
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
As administrator, I wanted to hide the 'Other' user pick from the logon screen on a Macbook to be used by various users on the network, and to do this I in-effect disabled the root user. I didn't think removing the 'Other' pick from the logon screen would disallow me from being root in Terminal though. I typed su in Terminal and the root user password and I get a Sorry message. I need to be root to make some settings, and I need to re-enable the root user. I logon as Administrator and go to NetInfo Manager and should be able to get to the Authenticate menu where I can Enable Root User, but the Authenticate menu is greyed out. I also tried going into the Terminal and used 'sudo passwd root'. I type/re-type the new password and when I type 'su' and the new password I get a Sorry message. To further complicate things, I am doing this remotely. I am trying to be root to make settings for a machine on the network that I am remote connected to. The machine I am remotely connected to is the one I am trying to re-enable root for. Any ideas as to how to get out of this bind I got myself into?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mcronin View Post


    I didn't think removing the 'Other' pick from the logon screen would disallow me from being root in Terminal though.



    I guess there would be instances where you wouldn't want to show a prompt for root ('other') even if it's enabled but I'm not sure that it would make sense for an admin user to be able to disable a root login prompt when a root user is active but maybe since an admin can disable the root account itself it would. Certainly there should be some customization for what users are shown at login without disabling those accounts.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mcronin View Post


    I also tried going into the Terminal and used 'sudo passwd root'. I type/re-type the new password and when I type 'su' and the new password I get a Sorry message. To further complicate things, I am doing this remotely. I am trying to be root to make settings for a machine on the network that I am remote connected to. The machine I am remotely connected to is the one I am trying to re-enable root for. Any ideas as to how to get out of this bind I got myself into?



    It sounds like you've removed your own admin privileges as normal users can't su to root. But it sounds like you can also use sudo ok. I did this a couple of years ago messing around in NetInfo and removed the admin group which reduced me down to a normal user and I couldn't enable root in NetInfo. I think I just enabled root from single user mode or something and restored my admin priviliges. If possible, try creating another user, allow them to administer the computer, login as them and try and enable root via netinfo.
  • Reply 2 of 2
    mcroninmcronin Posts: 6member
    As you suggested, I did create another user with admin privileges, then logged in as the new user and was able to enable root via netinfo.



    Thanks for your input!!
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