first of all, i’m an absolute beginner with Linux. i installed OpenSUSE on VBox on my Windows system as to be able to experiment with it and learn how to use it, with the help of a book i started reading. right at the start i’m faced with an account management problem, though.
first i logged in with the admin account i had to create during install. then, to be able to explore the OS with a stantard account, i tried to create a new one. i set the new account be the administrator account, but for some reason it didn’t allow me to set a password for net new account during this process. instead, it made me mark the option to “allow user to set a password when they next login”. the problem is it doesn’t prompt me to set a password for the new - now administrator - account when i try to log into it. instead, it asks for the account’s password and responds with “that didn’t work. please ty again.”, if the field is either left blank, filled with the original (now standard) account’s password, or filled with a new password. also, when the new account was created, my original account (the only one i can log into now) was set to a standard one, rather than administrator.
did i get really unlucky to trip over a bug like that in my very first attempt to do really anything in this system, or “this kind of thing is to be expected”? (that’d be really disappointing)
or else, am i doing something wrong here? what?
in Linux there is only one administrator a mr. root
during install you have the option to use the users <your> password as root’s password, adding a new user does not change root’s password, I’m really nor sure what you did but a user can not change his password only root can do that.
or in other terms the password you entered when you wore user#1 for doing administrative things (root password) is the same password you will use as user#2 doing admin things, user#2’s password is only used for logging in and nothing else.
Root is the super user in Linux. a regular user should not be give admin credentials since root privileges are like god and can do anything. so it is very easy to soot ones foot with out even trying.
Never ever log into a GUI as root you can do damage to user accounts again with seemingly innocent things.
Linux is not Windows. The first account made on install is a normal user account. The default is to use the same password for root as the first user made unless you choose otherwise.
Admin like things are either done at the command line using su - (note the dash) to temporarily become root and use commands to accomplish the goal or in openSUSE there is a very nice program called yast which is for the most part a one stop shop for all thing admin like. You must enter the root password when running since these things will effect all user/system processes. Thus requires root permissions. Depending on which desktop you use there are settings for the user with each user having their own setting. All things user are stored in /home
I’m a bit confused about what you believe is a bug but I think it is just a case of not understanding the Linux environment. After all no one is born knowing Windows.
So if I wanted to add a new user I’d start yast go to user & passwords and create a new user. (note that in doing so I became root by typing the root password at the password prompt shown when I start yast)
If that does not clear it up please restate your problem in more detail since it is hard to see over your shoulder.
during install, it requested me to create an account, and i don’t recall having the chance to set it as non-root. by that time, there was obviously no other account. then, after it was installed, in the “Users” section, this first account was set as administrator (in Gnome’s terms). in this section, i created a new account, which, upon creation, i set to be an administrator account. hower, i wasn’t able to set a password for this new account. all i could do was set its password to be created upon loggin in, but when i do try to log in to it, it doesn’t let me create a password for it. instead, it asks me for its password, like it was already set. i tried using the password i set for the first account (which is now standard) in the new (which is now administrator) account , but it just says “that didn’t work”. so no, this behavior can’t be normal. still, for my specific case, YaST worked. it’s surprising that such a powerful tool is hidden amongst all sorts of irrelevant stuff and without any indication of what it is. if it wasn’t for your advice, it’d never know. so thank you. it could be that only a few people try to do it the same way as me and the majority use YaST or other hidden neat tool for this job, so few stumble on the same problem.
(i went Activities > Show applications > Settings > Users)
my SuSE version is the latest, 13.2.
maybe that’s a little off-topic, but i appear as being logged in 2 accounts at the same time. for this reason, i can’t delete the first account i created, even though i logged off of it and it’s listed as just a “standard” account in the list of users. the administrator account is the one i’m using right now. also, when i open YaST, i have to type the password for the first account i created (now standard), not the password of the latter (now administrator). so i started to wonder: is the standard/administrator designations not the same as root/normal user, by any chance? what’s the best way to find out who the root is?
On 2015-07-26 23:56, CNL wrote:
>
> during install, it requested me to create an account, and i don’t recall
> having the chance to set it as non-root. by that time, there was
> obviously no other account.
You are a bit confused
The default installation procedure asks you to create a user account,
for which it asks both name and password. And it automatically sets this
same password to Mr root.
The other option is to give a different password to root.
The administrative user is always root in Linux, you can not change
its name. And it always exists, although in some distributions (ubuntu)
it has login disabled.
Further, you can not give another user administrative rights. Not in the
sense and power the phrase has in Windows, which is where I think you
come from
YaST is the crown jewel for *SUSE
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
On 2015-07-27 00:16, CNL wrote:
>
> maybe that’s a little off-topic, but i appear as being logged in 2
> accounts at the same time. for this reason, i can’t delete the first
> account i created, even though i logged off of it and it’s listed as
> just a “standard” account in the list of users. the administrator
> account is the one i’m using right now. also, when i open YaST, i have
> to type the password for the first account i created (now standard), not
> the password of the latter (now administrator). so i started to wonder:
> is the standard/administrator designations not the same as root/normal
> user, by any chance? what’s the best way to find out who the root is?
Any user you create will always be a standard user. It is impossible
to create an administrator user in Linux. I have no idea what Gnome may
be thinking they are doing if they tell you to create an administrative
user.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
I don’t use gnome so I don’t know what it is getting at, but here are the facts.
There is one and only one god in Linux and his name is root. You can arrange user groups to have a bit more power then a normal user but they never equal root. By default the first users password is used also for root unless you check the box to create a different password for root.
Nothing that you do in any desktop can create/delete/change a user without entering the root password which by default is the same as the first created user.There is no administrator only root.
Root in Linux is a little confusing in that there are several things called root. There is the root user as I described above there is also /root a directory which is the home directory of the root user. There is also the base of the file system which is called root and indicated as a single slash /. Also the base partition is called root and all other file systems are mounted to that root partition in the / (root) directory of the file system. SO when you speak of root there must be a context.
Unfortunately Gnome over the years has gotten more Windows like and hids settings and sometime misnames things. If there is one thing that gets to me is MS calling partitions drives. Arrrgh. I understand the history but why not correct the nomenclature when multiple partitions became common.
If I want to mess with user accounts I use yast. There is also command line programs. I won’t list them all here since there are many fine Linux tutorials that will detail each.
yeah, turns out the administrator isn’t an actual administrator and the actual administrador, the root, doesn’t appear on the user list, that’s what was causing the confusion. but i keep what i said about the new user account created out of YaST, password generation isn’t working. thanks everyone for taking the time to answer. i call my problem solved.
i previously described in detail the process i tried to used without success to create a new account. in YaST, it worked, since i was able to create a new account and set its password. but when i went to (in Gnome) Activities > Show Applications > Settings > Users, and tried to make a new account in that section, it didn’t allow me to set its password. it made me check the option to “Allow the user to set a password when they next log in”, which it never prompted this new user to do, turning this new account unusable, for not having a password.
I think you’re still mixing up a few things, a user can not set his own password, only root can set passwords.
when you entered the password the control center asked for user#1 got root privileges and root not user#1 created user#2.
As I don’t use gnome I don’t know what you selected but I do not think there is such an option, there is an option for password-less logins or better said an option for user#2 to login by entering his already existing password or to login without entering his password, but that’s a different thing.
The reason you are having problems is that you set root’s password to be the same as the first user you created, the fact that user#1 has the same password as root does not make him root, you should go to yast and set root’s password as something different then user#1, then play around with your system and you will see that user#1 password is useless except for logging in to his account.
I haven’t change root’s password in a while but the way to do in yast is
start yast, go to Manage groups and users, at the users tab check the filter to show you System users instead of Local
users, search for root and click edit, set the new password.
Of course can a user set/change his own password.
Just type “passwd” into a terminal window e.g.
If you want to change root’s password, you can do the same. Just switch to root first by running “su -”, or run “sudo passwd”.
And regarding GNOME’s option to give a user “administration rights”: I think that only applies to polkit, i.e. if you do certain GUI stuff that would normally need the root password, you won’t have to enter it.
But as I don’t use GNOME I’m not completely sure about that, or if it even works.
as i said, my problem is already solved. i’m aware the root’s password is the same password as for user #1 and i’m also aware that you can chage this password via terminal rather than by the “Settings > Users” path, as well as via YaST. however, the operation of creating a new user by using such path, which i described, isn’t working, for the reason i explained. for some reason, i can’t set a password for this new account, if it’s created specificaly using that method, rather than YaST.
Well AFAIK no GUI has the option to change the user password, at least without becoming root. You can of course use the command line (passwd) command to change your own and if at the time root can change others
On 2015-07-27 06:06, CNL wrote:
>
> i previously described in detail the process i tried to used without
> success to create a new account. in YaST, it worked, since i was able to
> create a new account and set its password. but when i went to (in Gnome)
> Activities > Show Applications > Settings > Users, and tried to make a
> new account in that section, it didn’t allow me to set its password. it
> made me check the option to “Allow the user to set a password when they
> next log in”, which it never prompted this new user to do, turning this
> new account unusable, for not having a password.
Well, you see, you may have noticed by now that none of us have ever
used that method, not even are we aware of its existence
When we create a new user, we do it the way we have been doing for
decades: do it in YaST, or do it in the command line, the way that is
documented in paper books since ages.
As somebody else has said here, Gnome folks are trying to imitate
Windows behaviour, and it is possible that nobody has tested it, and if
they did, nobody has cared to report it. Or maybe it is supposed to work
another way, but we don’t know.
So now you have a chance to contribute to openSUSE and report this gnome
issue in bugzilla
this entire thread is confusing.
yes a user with an existing password can change his/hers password using passwd, but only root can create users, that new user will have his password set by root and there is no way to set that user’s password ambiguous, there is no way to create a user with a password to be set at some future date at first login. The Gnome devs might be playing around with something but … what that is I don’t think even they know.
This may help you, there is a minimum number of characters you need to type when entering a new password (and there is no prompt to tell you when you have too few, only that the change / update button is greyed out until you have types in at least 10 characters if I remember rightly).
However there appears to be a major bug with users in that a logout / login or switch user, on entering the new user login results in a blank screen which then requires a forced shutdown / restart. This may only occur on a PC in which OpenSUSE has been installed on a partition other than the primary partition (which in my case is Windows) but beware.
