On 16/11/02 at 7:15 pm, Philip Chudy wrote: > how on earth does one be root (superuser) on OSX
Philip, here's what a guru friend of mine wrote when I had exactly the same problem as you (I'd downloaded an application and couldn't then delete it when I decided I didn't want it). Here are his words: > I'd tend to recommend the following steps, which you should perform > precisely. > > > 1. Drag the stuff out of the Trash and put it somewhere you can find > it later. Maybe put it in its own folder on your Desktop. I recommend > this. > > 2. Open "NetInfo Manager" (located in the Applications/Utilities > folder). > > 2. Select "Authenticate" from the "Security" submenu of the "Domain" > menu. Enter your normal user password. > > 3. Select "Enable Root User" from the same submenu. If asked for a > further password, again use your normal user password. > > 4. Log out of Mac OS X (don't shutdown; just log out). You can do > this via the Apple menu. > > 5. At the login dialog which will appear, enter "root" as your name, > and enter the password you chose for the Root User. > > 6. You'll see a virgin desktop, dock, and so on. You are now the root > user, or superuser, of your system. You now have the power to destroy > everything. So, navigate into your usual Home folder (note that > you're now logged in as a different user, so you'll need to navigate > through > /Users/YourNormalUserName/ to get to your usual Home folder). > > 7. Find where you put the stuff you removed from the trash. If you > put it on your normal desktop, then it'll be in the Desktop folder > within your normal Home folder. > > 8. Trash the stuff, and empty the trash. You'll be able to do it, > since you're the superuser, and you can do anything. > > 9. Log out again. Don't be tempted to play around with anything > whilst you're the superuser. Just don't. > > 10. Log back in as yourself, using your normal user name instead of > root. > > > And don't be tempted to fiddle around with the root account in > future, unless you're very sure what you're doing. You have absolute > power, and you know what they say about that. Hope this helps... -- best wishes Paul http://www.paulbradforth.com =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
