Root password issue

[TDT]

Hi guys. I have a problem with a recent installation of openSUSE 12.3. On certain actions (like changing the clock (!!!!!!!!) ), my password is not recognized. I really don't have any idea why this happens, su works in the terminal and also the password works when launching yast update and some other things...

 

Anyone with the same problem?!

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

You most likely need your user's password, not root.

[TDT]

Yeah, poor thread title, sorry about that. There's only one user, with the same pass as root, so... :)

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Do you have any special characters in your password? Perhaps your keyboard layout has changed since you set the root password?

Can you give us some console output as an example (i.e. exactly what commands were you running and what was their output?)

[Som]

is caps lock on? :P

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

is caps lock on? :p

 

LIKE HOW MANY TIMES THAT HAPPENED TO ME.  :| :LAUGH:

[TDT]

Do you have any special characters in your password? Perhaps your keyboard layout has changed since you set the root password?

Can you give us some console output as an example (i.e. exactly what commands were you running and what was their output?)

 

 

 

No special characters and the keyboard layout has not changed... 

I tried to install some software and when I was asked about the password, it didn't work. Also, not working when trying to access a Windows NTFS partition (weird enough, accessing the C: partition works with the password). SU works, in terminal. And as I said, i couldn't change the time and the date because of the damn password. I changed the password and it worked, one time. The second time I had the same problem. It's like the damn suse wants me to change the password before every action  :)) I really don't know what's going on...

[jaylittle]

Those prompts likely rely upon your user having sudo access which is inherently different than having su access.  Using su requires use of the root password whereas sudo gives you root access by using your own password.  Try using "sudo ls /" from the shell and see how that works for you.  I'm guessing it will fail.  After that you'll need to look up the specific instructions for your distribution in regards to giving yourself sudo access.  Typically you'll need to add your user to a particular group (i.e. wheel) but you can also use a command like visudo to edit the sudo configuration directly if you'd like as well.

[TDT]

Will do that and get back with a reply, but what I don't understand is how this would happen. I installed the OS just a few days ago, worked like a charm till this thing started happening. Weird...

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

If you have the option (as in Debian), your root password should not be the same as your user password. Things get weird after that.

[TDT]

Well, I reinstalled the system today, the 64bit version this time and everything seems to work fine so far. So I guess the thread should be closed. Thank you all for the help! :)