Unable to login to super user from normal user

Question

I have installed ubuntu 11.10 with no problem. But after login as a normal user, I am unable to switch to super user(using "su" command). Its showing "Authentication failure" plz help me..

Solution 1

In Ubuntu and other Debian-based systems, by default root user has no password set, so it is impossible to log in directly as root or to become root by using su command.

Instead, Ubuntu uses sudo command which allows much more flexible management of permissions - users can perform administrative tasks without knowing root password.

While it is possible to give root user a password, it is not necessary and not recommended.

You can see my answer to this question for more details.

In short, when you need to get root console, you type

sudo su

and then enter your own password. More often, if you want to run a single command as superuser, you just type

sudo command

and, again, enter your own password

Solution 2

Open the terminal and type the following command:

sudo su