root user disabled

[HenryAZ]

One of the first things I do on all my Mac's is use the Directory Utility to enable the root user. I use root very infrequently, but I do have its home directory set up with a .profile file for certain aliases, plus a .exrc file for vi.

I come to find yesterday that root's password did not work (on two machines running 10.13.6). Apparently one of the security updates disabled root. I went back into Directory Utility and enabled root again, gave it the same password I used before, and it worked again. The home directory was still there, with the same .profile and .exrc files, and all was good again. Weird.

 

[maflynn]

Why not use sudo when you need elevated privileges?

Apparently one of the security updates disabled root.

Yes, its not needed for the majority of people and as mentioned above using sudo should work

 

[HenryAZ]

Why not use sudo when you need elevated privileges?
Yes, its not needed for the majority of people and as mentioned above using sudo should work

I agree it is not needed for most users, but I use it. Simply put, I am a long time unix user and used to working as root. It saves the extra hassle of using sudo, especially editing .plist files in /Library and /System/Library, and I am quite comfortable with it. I was just making a note in passing, not trying to recommend using the root user at all. It has never happened before (having the already enabled root user be disabled) through many versions of the OS and security updates. Just a curiosity is all.

I really don't use it all that much, mostly when configuring a new install. There are certain things I like to change/disable.