how do I activate root login?

[sdibaja]

I am trying to mount an internal NTFS drive.
I found and used the NTFS Configuration Tool...
Dolphin lists the drive in "places" but when I click on it I get a message saying:
"An error occured accessing '320backs', the system responded: mount: only root can mount /dev/sdb1 on media/320backs"

I can not figure out how to login as root!

[flarson]

Re: how do I activate root login?

Ubuntu uses sudo and kdesudo to give you root permissions. If you want to run a command as root, such as "mount /dev/sdb1" run "sudo mount /dev/sdb1". It will ask for your password (not roots) and run the command as root. If you want to run a GUi program use "kdesudo program".

[sdibaja]

EUREKA!!! Re: how do I activate root login?

thanks! you got me on the right track:
================ konsole clip ===============
peter@peter-laptop:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1
[sudo] password for peter:
$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb1': Operation not supported
Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use. Choose one action:

Choice 1: If you have Windows then disconnect the external devices by
clicking on the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the Windows
taskbar then shutdown Windows cleanly.

Choice 2: If you don't have Windows then you can use the 'force' option for
your own responsibility. For example type on the command line:

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/320backs -o force

Or add the option to the relevant row in the /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sdb1 /media/320backs ntfs-3g force 0 0

#### OK, no windows but I can try choice 2 ####

peter@peter-laptop:~$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/320backs -o force
$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
WARNING: Forced mount, reset $LogFile.
peter@peter-laptop:~$

Happy Happy!
thanks pal!

[flarson]

Re: how do I activate root login?

It looks to me like you have not provided all the relevant information. Are you running Kubuntu from an installation on a hard disk partition of its own ar are you using some sort of virtualization ? From this error it appears that you are using Wubi or VMware or some such, which changes everything.

[sdibaja]

Re: how do I activate root login?

sorry if I was not clear.

the kubuntu install is on a hard drive that had contained Vista. Vista crashed. Vista said the drive is toast.

I installed Kubuntu on the same drive, using the entire disk, no partition.

The NTFS drive I was having an issue with is the second drive in the same machine... I use it to backup all my data.

I guess when Vista was in the process of requesting new hardware it marked the second drive as locked or something.

thanks again for your help! Peter

PS: I used to use Wubi, but not on this machine.

[flarson]

Re: how do I activate root login?

Ok, I think I am beginning to get the picture. You have Kubuntu installed on /dev/sda1 and /dev/sdb1 is an NTFS partition that does not contain an OS.

So here is what you need to do. Remove all packages that refer to NTFS. The linux kernel provides support for NTFS and the NTFS-3g stuff is obsolete and confusing. So run
dpkg -l | grep ntfs
It will list a number of packages. Now run
sudo aptitude purge package1 package2 package3 ...
to remove all of them.

The directions I will give here will mount your extra drive on /home/peter/320backs with peter as owner so you can read and write to them without root privileges. First
cd /home/peter
mkdir 320backs
This will create the mount point.

Have you placed any lines in /etc/fstab? If you have change them to look like this
/dev/sdb1 /home/peter/320backs ntfs defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000
You should use a uid and gid that is appropriate for user peter, so when logged in as peter run "id" to get that info.

Then run
sudo mount /dev/sdb1

I expect it will work.

[sdibaja]

Re: how do I activate root login?

thanks again!
it works great!
Peter