How do I log into GNOME as a root?

Question

I've enabled the root account by setting a password for it but not matter what I try I cant log into any DE but the default unity one, while any other user (but root) can choose any DE

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 17 '12 at 19:15

You can't log in to the GUI as root as it is an astronomically bad thing to do. Log on as a normal user and use sudo <command> if you really require root privileges. I've been using various kinds of Unix and Linux for 20 years and never had to log on to the GUI as root.

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

2

DO NOT LOG INTO GNOME AS ROOT

This is impossible to do because if it did allow you do to do that MANY things wouldn't work correctly.

Any reason you might have for wanting to do this stems from misunderstanding something.

For a discussion about why not to log in as root, see Why is it bad to login as root?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Apr 17 '12 at 19:35

David Oneill

12,614

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 01 '20 at 17:47

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/284772/gnome-3-is-not-allowing-me-to-log-in-as-root

You should edit the file /etc/pam.d/gdm-password commenting the line that contains the root user check,
#auth required    pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet_success

How do I log into GNOME as a root?

3 Answers3

DO NOT LOG INTO GNOME AS ROOT

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