Now, you may use the saw to cut fruits but that’s not wise, is it?ĭoes this mean that you cannot be root in Ubuntu or use the system with root privileges? No, you can still have root access with the help of ‘sudo’ (explained in the next section).īottom line: Root user is too powerful to be used for regular tasks. If you have to cut down a tree, you have to use a saw. If you have to cut a fruit, you use a kitchen knife. Take this analogy for understanding it better. You don’t need to have root privilege for your daily tasks like moving file in your home directory, downloading files from internet, creating documents etc. This is why Ubuntu and other Ubuntu-based distributions lock the root user by default to save you from accidental disasters. And hence, an incorrect command may destroy the system. Root user can access system files and run commands to make changes to the system configuration. Root user gives you complete power over the system and hence it should be used with great cautious. With great power comes great responsibility. It can access any file and run any command on your Linux system.

This is the super admin account that can do anything and everything with the system. In Linux, there is always a super user called root. What is root user? Why is it locked in Ubuntu? You’ll learn the following in this article: Please keep in mind that while I am writing this from Ubuntu user’s perspective, it should be valid for most Linux distributions. In this beginner series, I’ll explain a few important things about the root user in Ubuntu. One of those ‘different things’ is the concept of the root user. When you have just started using Linux, you’ll find many things that are different from Windows. But there’s more to root account in Ubuntu that you should know. In both cases, you’ll have to enter your own user account’s password. Or you switch user in Ubuntu to root user like this: sudo su Either you run commands with root privilege like this: sudo any_command

Ubuntu sudo su