Tell me more ×
Unix & Linux Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Un*x-like operating systems.. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 5 down vote favorite

I want to change the password I assigned to root on my Debian webserver to something longer and more secure.

Bit of an obvious newbie question, but how do I do that? I haven’t forgotten/lost the current password, I just want to change it.

share|improve this question
1  
To find this out for yourself, run apropos password: you'll get a list of commands that contain “password” in their short description. You can narrow the search a little with apropos -s 1 password: -s 1 restricts to section 1 of the manual, which contains user commands. – Gilles Mar 25 '11 at 19:55
@Gilles: that’s fantastic, I had no idea. – Paul D. Waite Mar 25 '11 at 20:01

2 Answers

up vote 11 down vote accepted

Ah, use the passwd program as root:

sudo passwd root

Or, if you’re running as root already (which you shouldn’t be), just:

passwd

The root argument can be omitted, because when you execute passwd it defaults to the current user (which is root, as only root can change the root password).

share|improve this answer
1  
Obvious in hindsight, really. :) – Shadur Mar 25 '11 at 14:15
@Shadur: painfully :) I’d just never done it before, and the Google links I found first were for folks who had forgotten the root password. – Paul D. Waite Mar 25 '11 at 14:18
1  
Should be sudo passwd, or just plain passwd if you are running with root privileges. – phunehehe Mar 25 '11 at 14:33
@phunehehe: ah, gotcha. Answer edited; do I need root after sudo passwd if I’m not running as root? – Paul D. Waite Mar 25 '11 at 15:03
1  
@Paul I took liberty in editing your answer. There are a few ways to run things as root, and when passwd is run as root, it defaults to modify the root user. – phunehehe Mar 25 '11 at 16:11
show 4 more comments
up vote 3 down vote

If you're going to be doing a lot of command-line administration, you might find it useful to check out the man pages for usermod(8), chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), crypt(3), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8),

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.