| SYSTEM INFORMATION | |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu Linux 24.04.1 | REQUIRED |
| 7.30.3 | REQUIRED |
Good morning and Congratulation for the Great job you do!One question about root password change. If someone knows my root password. What is the safest way to change it?
I don’t know what “safest” means here.
But, generally, you should login as root, or login as your sudo-capable user and sudo su - to become root, and then run the passwd command to set a new password.
You could also use the Webmin->System->Users and Groups module to change a user’s password.
I would recommend not setting a password in Webmin->Webmin Users, or using the webmin passwd command, because that effectively creates a new Webmin-only user named root with a different password from the system root user (and does not change the system root user’s password). For some reason, people always think they’re supposed to modify the Webmin user, but by default Webmin uses system users unless and until you split them or create a new Webmin-only user. Folks do this, forget they’ve now got two passwords and find they’re confused when trying to login later. (And, since you need to change your system root password for security reasons, you’d be leaving the security problem unchanged.)
In short: The system root user is not specific to Webmin and you do not need to use Webmin to change the password for the system root user. Webmin’s System->Users and Groups module can edit system users, though, if you want to.
If i change the root password in my vps terminal, will this affect webdmin login and/or virtuamin servers and users?
Reread my comment. I’ve already answered your question.
Thank you for the info. I managed to change the password without a problem.
So if we DO create another “Webmin-only user” named “root” accidentally, how can we “remove” it without fear of “Oops, I might be deleting the system root” ???
I should be clear, I guess, it’s not really a “new user”, but that’s what it looks like because there is no longer any connection between the system password and the Webmin root user password, which confuses people, so I just discourage people from doing it.
I don’t know why, but folks think Webmin is somehow fundamentally altering the OS and they need to do special things for Webmin. But, your OS is unchanged and how you interact with the system doesn’t need to change. A user is just a user, and you can use the usual tools to interact with it.