[SOLVED] How to set root password

[davidbryant]

I just installed Kubuntu 24.04.1 (LTS). The installation went smoothly enough, but when I booted into the system and tried to use Discover to update the system, I didn't know what to use as the root password. So I went back through the installation process, and verified that there is no obvious way to specify the root password. What am I missing? Do I have to create the root user somehow? It seems odd -- I've installed hundreds of versions of Linux, and I never encountered this problem until today.

Oh -- I'm really a Gentoo user. My system is running on a Dell XPS8930 with an Intel i7 CPU (8 processors), 16 GiB memory, and an Nvidia GPU.

[Snowhog]

You use your login password.

[oshunluvr]

I just installed Kubuntu 24.04.1 (LTS). The installation went smoothly enough, but when I booted into the system and tried to use Discover to update the system, I didn't know what to use as the root password. So I went back through the installation process, and verified that there is no obvious way to specify the root password. What am I missing? Do I have to create the root user somehow? It seems odd -- I've installed hundreds of versions of Linux, and I never encountered this problem until today.

Oh -- I'm really a Gentoo user. My system is running on a Dell XPS8930 with an Intel i7 CPU (8 processors), 16 GiB memory, and an Nvidia GPU.

To explain a bit for you; Ubuntu and it's variants, like many other distros, do not have a root password by default because it is considered both unsafe and unnecessary. Instead, when root level authorization is required sudo is used. When you are prompted for root level access, you are being asked for your password to verify your user account has admin privileges. By default, the user account created at installation is an administrator account.

In direct answer to your question: "How to set root password" you simply open a terminal and set one with the "passwd" command. However, I would advise against it. Of the several times I have messed up an install bad enough to require a re-installation, more than one was because I used a root account. The only thing I have ever encountered that required being root is when in Recovery mode and booting to that mode automatically makes you root user even without a password.