I synced my root and admin passwords in Jaguar with NetInfo Utility by copying my encrypted password and pasting it in to the root password field. It worked. This same thing doesn't in Panther. Is there another way to snyc up the passwords in Panther?
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Originally posted by Aquatic
I synced my root and admin passwords in Jaguar with NetInfo Utility by copying my encrypted password and pasting it in to the root password field. It worked. This same thing doesn't in Panther. Is there another way to snyc up the passwords in Panther?
I don't know what you mean by "synced" but if you want to make them the same, in NetInfo change the root password to be your user password. They changed the way passwords are stored in Panther so that old method doesn't work.
Look here for an explanation of what's changed since Jag.
of course, if you know the admin password and you have access to the machines, you can set the root password if it hasn't already been set.
Originally posted by alcimedes
that actually sounds like a security concern if you ask me. (the old way)
of course, if you know the admin password and you have access to the machines, you can set the root password if it hasn't already been set.
It was. There was a thread about it a while back. Look here for more.
or
NetInfo Manager. Security -> Enable Root User
Really, people, if you don't even know how to *enable* the root account, should you be using it?
Originally posted by Aquatic
Thanks I'm aware of the warnings of root which are really not a concern since my computer never has any services running. I mean really, Classic let you have "root" for over two decades. Worked fine. I don't delete random things in /Library. It's just nice to move some things around when I want to that need root and if the Trash isn't cooperating for example. By synced I just meant the same. So how does that "Enable Root user" work, does that give the admin root permissions now? How do I change my root password to be my Admin password?
When you enable root user through Netinfo, you'll get a dialog box that says the root user password is empty and you need to create a password. Type in your admin password as the root password and they're the same.
But do you REALLY need to enable root? I consider myself a pretty hardcore user and I was shocked to find that I hadn't enabled it myself. Everything I need to get done I can use sudo for. With the way they've made things easier through the GUI (changing permissions, etc), I haven't had the need to be root for anything.
Originally posted by torifile
I consider myself a pretty hardcore user and I was shocked to find that I hadn't enabled it myself. Everything I need to get done I can use sudo for. With the way they've made things easier through the GUI (changing permissions, etc), I haven't had the need to be root for anything.
Same here.
As soon as you start using root in the GUI, bad things can happen that you may not do intentionally. The Finder, for example, writes to files such as .DS_Store all the time. This can be problematic if you start using root. Guess what one of the biggest complaints for Mac OS X used to be? Icons not remembering their location and folders not remembering their settings. Guess what the number one cause of this was? People using root in the GUI.
Just because you think you're okay because you don't actively do something stupid like deleting files doesn't mean you are actually safe from the problems root can cause.
Originally posted by Aquatic
Good point, I'll use sudo most of the time. But still the point is how do I know what my root password is? In fact how is it set, is it made at the factory at random? I don't remember setting it during Installation.
The root user is merely disabled on install; there may be some sort of random password assigned by default, but there isn't any knowing what it is. Under the old system (maybe Panther too? see below), the password hash displayed in NetInfo Manager was preceded by a * for a disabled account. Enabling the root user for the first time (you have to be an admin user to do this, of course) through NetInfo Manager requires you to set a password. If enabling the root user in this way didn't make you enter a new root password, then I'm not really sure what to tell you. Hopefully the "syncing" thing you tried didn't confuse anything.
I did an upgrade install of Panther over a very fresh 10.2.8, and as I've changed the passwords for the various account on the system, they have been switched over to the new shadow password system as expected. Except the root user. Enabling root and then changing the password doesn't switch over to the new system: the password hash is still visible in NetInfo Manager; and the when the user is disabled, that is still indicated by the * preceding the password hash. Does it take a clean reinstall in order to get the root user to switch over? Or is the root user handled differently for some reason?