Today I needed to reset a password on an Ubuntu system. While doing this, I was reminded of just how simple it is to get root access on a default install of Ubuntu. I wanted to share these steps on this blog to remind people that if someone has physical access to your Ubuntu system, they can get root access in just a few seconds.

"I code in Emacs. Emacs has good support for version control tool interaction in the vc-mode package. I want to use git and have vc-mode work with git. I also want access to special git commands that the vc-mode does not export directly. The notes below are for Ubuntu Hardy, which is what I use all the time..."

Enabling the root account in ubuntu is rarely necessary. Almost everything you need to do as root of an Ubuntu system can be done via sudo or gksudo. If you really need a persistent root login, the best alternative is to simulate a root login shell using the following command... It is tested in ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala also.

Somewhere between the debut of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala for those into animal names) and today, the developers/maintainers/overlords of what many consider the leading Linux distribution have fixed the dreaded "kernel mode setting bug" that rendered the X Window system on many computers using Intel video hardware unusable until kernel mode setting was turned off.

A good password has the problem of being difficult to remember. And sometimes you might need to get in to a system where the root password is long forgotten (or left with the system administrator before you).

Ubuntu root access was blocked by default for GUI. For Enabling This you need to reset password for root.

By default, the root account password is locked in Ubuntu - Canonical neither supports nor advocates enabling the root account. This means that you cannot login as root directly or use the su command to become the root user. However, since the root account physically exists it is still possible to run programs with root-level privileges.

"...Steve Yegge’s Javascript editing mode for Emacs, js2-mode, really takes this kind of 'ambient usefulness' to the next level. That’s because it doesn’t just use colors and styles to indicate syntax, but to indicate semantics as well..." --

The idea to work one day without graphical applications and use only text utilities like wget isn't new but… Here is the list of essential tools that are invaluable to make "text mode day" real. Many described applications are already installed out-of-the-box after certain Linux distro installation, if not command sudo aptitude install will help you (or yum install).