Root

The Linux root account is the privileged administrator account. The root account has access to create, read, update, an delete anything on the Linux system. It is a powerful account and if used carelessly could result in crashing the system. So let's try it out!

Learning Objectives

You should be able to:

Run individual commands with elevated permissions using sudo.
Switch to the root user using the su command.
Switch back to a regular user account.

Video Walkthrough

Use this video to follow along with the steps in this lab.

sudo

The sudo command can be used to run a single command with elevated privileges.

Open your Linux terminal.
Verify your current account.

whoami

You should see your regular, non-privileged account (ubuntu, kali, ec2-user, or something similar).
Run the following command to try to list the root user's home directory:

ls /root

You should get a permission denied error. Note that all other user home directories will be in /home.

Run the following command to run ls with elevated privileges:

sudo ls -a /root

Depending on the system configuration, you might be prompted for a password at this point.
Run whoami to verify your current account. You should still be the same, non-root user.

The sudo command is often used when making changes to system files and settings.

Switching to The root Account

Generally, it is a good idea to switch to the root user only when needed. Regular system usage should be done with a non-privileged account (like the kali user account). But there are times when switching to the root account will be helpful.

Run the following "substitute user" command to switch users to the root account.

sudo su - root

The prompt will change to something like:

root@ip-172-31-16-60:~#

Run pwd and whoami to check your current information.

pwd
whoami

Notice that the current user is now root, and the working directory is /root. You did not cd to change directories, but by switching users with su - you basically logged into the system with that user account. Notice that the prompt also changed to show root@host instead of ubuntu@host.
Run:

ls -a

You should see a listing of the files (including hidden files starting with a period) in the root user's folder. You should not get a permission denied error.
Run:

exit

Notice that the terminal program did not exit. You only exited from the root user account. If you ran exit again, you would close your terminal.

Reflection

What is the benefit of computers making you elevate permissions to perform certain tasks?
What would go wrong if all users were given root privileges?

Key Terms

Root User: The superuser account in Unix and Linux operating systems with the highest level of privileges. The root user has unrestricted access to all commands, files, and system resources, allowing them to perform administrative tasks such as installing software, modifying system configurations, and managing user accounts. Due to its powerful capabilities, the root account should be used with caution to avoid unintentional system damage or security risks.