Changing preferences.

I recently installed Mandrake 10.0

Am enjoying it nicely. I am sort of clicking about, getting a feel for things and i noticed the Root folder is locked. I click on it and it says "you dont have permission" etc.

I went into configure computer, security and gave myself membership to everything in the box (ticked everything)but it still remains locked. How can i gain full root access? I assume its something i inadvertly did whilst during install. If it means reinstalling it then thats fine. wasnt too hard.

Also on boot up (using Lilo) is there anyway to stop the counter? So the splash screen just sits there? Or even better.. have it boot to Windows first as my girlfriend has this habit of turning the machine on and walking away..... Hey i gotta keep the peace here!

Damien

The very reason why Linux can be such a pain in the ass, as far as permissions go is the very reason it is so very secure. It is not a good idea to give youself (user) permissions to the root directory because every time you give users more permissions to anything outside of your /home directory, you also make it easier for a would be hacker to gain control of your computer.

All you need to go anywhere in Linux is root's password. To gain access to your root directory, open a terminal and "become root" by typing:

su [enter]

It will then ask for root's password. Type it in and press enter.

You will notice the $ sign is now a # sign. This means you are now "root" and can destroy the solar system.

Now you can enter your /root directory by either the command line or by a file browser.

From the command line go:

cd /root [enter]

and you're there! To see what's in there type:

ls [enter]

Or with a file browser, either Nautilus or konqueror, just type either

nautilus [enter]

or:

konqueror [enter]

and you'll be in the file browser as root. Then make your way to /root.

Mandrake has a utility in the Mandrake Control Center which will allow you to re-configure Lilo. Find it, and tell it to boot to Windows before Linux.

as root chmod -R 777 / just kidding DON'T DO THAT!!

as usual Dapper Dans advice is dead on. Just one thing i'd like to add, if you are using Nautilus as root from your user enviornment type nautilus --nodesktop to avoid loading roots desktop enviornment on top of your users desktop

Thanks a lot. Ive been lurking about for about a week now reading a lot. It seems many people log on with "im new, help me" and only have one post.

I tried hard to avoid a newbie question but hey... have to start some where!

Enjoy the day

Damien

Originally posted by egorgry:


Thanks egorgry, you are very kind.



Good advice too egorgry, which I forgot to mention. Only make sure to put a "dash" between "no" and "desktop", as in:

nautilus --no-desktop

or else it will still go to nautilus desktop.

Question: Can you still have Nautilus without Gnome? I really don't know...

On a sort of kind of related note, I just upgrade three boxes at my radio station with Fedora Core 1 and Core 2, and am using Krusader as an FTP file transfer front end for all three. If you haven't tried it, Krusader is one of the little know gems in Linux, and it installs on most distros without complaint.

Krusader can also be used as a dual pane file browser/manager! Try it out! I think you'll like it!

Downloading as i type this. Looks good.

Which will bring me to another question.. hey its my thread might as well keep it all together...

Is there a list of "must have" software for linux that doesnt come on say the Mandrake cds?

Rather than you guys always answering the same thing if there is a link with such a discussion etc point me to it. Or post up here.

Damien

Downloading as i type this. Looks good.

Which will bring me to another question.. hey its my thread might as well keep it all together...

Is there a list of "must have" software for linux that doesnt come on say the Mandrake cds?

Rather than you guys always answering the same thing if there is a link with such a discussion etc point me to it. Or post up here.

Damien