Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

harry4000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2003
8
0
Sunnyvale, CA
I try typing "su" in the terminal, and it prompts me for a password. The password that I use for my user account doesn't work. Does anybody know what the default password is?
 

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
Try this

By default the password is "locked"

If memory serves, You need to login as a user with admin priviledges and open Terminal and then

sudo passwd root

To set the password.

Let me know if that helps. I could be way off.
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
i *have to* ask why. the general thought is that if you don't know how to turn it on, you perhaps shouldn't have root access to begin with..?

that said, if the terminal command doesn't work, try accessing Netinfo Manager -> Security.
 

ckwm

macrumors member
Jun 3, 2003
47
0
UK
Originally posted by jxyama
i *have to* ask why. the general thought is that if you don't know how to turn it on, you perhaps shouldn't have root access to begin with..?

that said, if the terminal command doesn't work, try accessing Netinfo Manager -> Security.

As it happens, I'd like to know too! I am the only user on my iMac and it bugs me there is stuff I can't do (like delete certain directories such as previous systems). As it happens, you can do this in Panther with the admin password.

I get your point though, jxyama. Perhaps there should be something in the install where you can set the password.
 

GigaWire

macrumors 6502
Dec 25, 2001
386
0
/applications/utilities/netinfo manager

Netinfo has a nice gui for setting up root access among many other things.

under the security tab is the enable root user option
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.