[K12OSN] Re: The "can't log in as root to fix the 'can't log in as root'" conundrum

[Carl Keil]

>
> David Hopkins wrote:
>   
>
>     Can you just use "su root" to get root ownership in a terminal session
>     after logging in with your normal account?  I normally use su - root
>     to get the full login environment, but su root should give you root
>     privileges, right?
>         
>

> Yes, as will a plain "su". The dash argument to su means "execute my 
> start-up scripts and set up my environment." Without the dash, you 
> don't get that, meaning you also won't have root's path variable set. 
> That means you'll hafta specify the path to things like /sbin/ifconfig 
> (and other commands). The other argument to su is the username. 
> Without a username specified, su assumes you mean root. 

Thank you so much.  "su - root" didn't work, so I gave up on the whole 
su thing.  I was hoping there was a simple fix. 

Can I ask?  What do you think the best actual fix for the original 
problem is?

1)  mv /root /home/
2) ln -s /root /home/root
3) cp -a /root /home/
4) vi /etc/passwd
5) other... please explain

Thanks again,

ck