On Sun, 8 Nov 2009, Rich Shepard wrote: > Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 15:29:19 -0800 (PST) > From: Rich Shepard <[email protected]> > Reply-To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help; civil and on-topic" > <[email protected]> > To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help; civil and on-topic" > <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [PLUG] File Transfers From /etc > > On Sun, 8 Nov 2009, Larry W wrote: > >> If this new machine is to replace nearly exactly the old PC, I'd archive >> everything in /etc that has a modification date newer than about April >> 2009. I'd save apt/*, fstab (for one-off and remote mount defines), >> backup settings, fonts, sudoers, group, hosts.*, and so on. > > Well, I've been check-mated by xubuntu. I tarred the 11M /etc directory on > the old Toshiba Tecra onto a USB flash drive (1.3M file size). When I > connect the flash drive to the new Toshiba Satellite it shows the files > group as 'root'. If I mount it on my server, the file is owned by > rshepard.users, but on her new machine it's owned by pamela.root. Sigh. > > I cannot copy the file to the new machine. It won't copy to her home > directory (permission denied), and I cannot copy it to / since there is not > yet a root password. What a hassle! > > Even working in a virtual console using 'sudo' I cannot copy the file. > > Is there a way for me to create a password for root so I can su to that > account and move the file to / for untarring into /etc/?
Now you know why I poo-poo Ubuntu. I hate the whole let's-hide-root thing. Try "sudo bash" to get a real root shell. If that works, do a "passwd" to set root's password. Carlos _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
