# Virtualmin root users changing settings in the webmin section **URL:** \ **Category:** Blue Skies\ **Created:** [April 16, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034 "2024-04-16T23:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stefan1959](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@stefan1959](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/stefan1959)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/1 "2024-04-16T23:34:49Z")
For Virtualmin installs, should there be a warning in the Webmin section that changing settings in Webmin section can cause issue with the running of Vrtuamin and they should not proceed unless they have experience with the Linux Operating System, proceed with caution. This warning can then be removed. Any thought? ---
**Author:** ![craigh](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/craigh/32/716_2.png) [@craigh](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/craigh)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 11:41pm UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/2 "2024-04-16T23:41:52Z")
What I see in the “Webmin Modules” section are settings that really only affect cosmetic things. I don’t think any of my users have changed anything there over the years, except possibly their password. ---
**Author:** ![stefan1959](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@stefan1959](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/stefan1959)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/3 "2024-04-17T01:20:46Z")
Webmin is not a module its what Virtualmin is built on (Virtualmin is the module, maybe you mean something else me reading it again). It can control pretty much everything on the OS and is all powerfull and that’s what worries me about the less experience user going in there. > **[Webmin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webmin)** > > Webmin is a web-based server management control panel for Unix-like systems. Webmin allows the user to configure operating system internals, such as users, disk quotas, services and configuration files, as well as modify and control open-source apps, such as BIND, Apache HTTP Server, PHP, and MySQL. > Webmin, written by Jamie Cameron, was first released as version 0.1 in October 1997. It was originally written during the time that Cameron administered a DNS server and needed an easy-to-use interfa... > **[Virtualmin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualmin)** > > Virtualmin is a domain hosting and website control panel which gives the ability to create and manage many domains, as well as simplify both automation and tasks. It is based on Webmin. Virtualmin is an alternative to cPanel and Plesk. > Virtualmin is available in two versions. Virtualmin GPL and Virtualmin Professional. The Virtualmin GPL version is fully free and open-source software and does not require monthly fee, compared to the Virtualmin Professional version which requires a monthly or ann... As you can see Virtualmin came along as a module 6 years after Webmin. ---
**Author:** ![craigh](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/craigh/32/716_2.png) [@craigh](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/craigh)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/4 "2024-04-17T02:02:44Z")
Yes, I’m aware of all of that. I didn’t just find Webmin last night. This is what I see in a regular user’s account, and that “Webmin Modules” option is what I was referring to. I’m not referring to the full Webmin options in the root account, to which regular users have no access. ![virtualmin_user_20240416](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f1feec2008e22b17e73b58d4c0e9e2804de8a26d.png) ---
**Author:** ![stefan1959](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@stefan1959](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/stefan1959)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/5 "2024-04-17T02:04:05Z")
No I’m talking about root access setups. Me say users is misleading. ![image](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/uploads/default/original/2X/1/1d42ba2268d40eb5e667b25ea886fd124a6130f6.png) ---
**Author:** ![craigh](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/craigh/32/716_2.png) [@craigh](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/craigh)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/6 "2024-04-17T02:06:06Z")
Oh, OK. That wasn’t clear. Anyone running as root should _know_ that they’re having the effects they’re trying to have. I’ll leave this alone and let the Webmin/Virtualmin people take over. ---
**Author:** ![stefan1959](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@stefan1959](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/stefan1959)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/7 "2024-04-17T02:08:10Z")
Yeah, but alot don’t, its free software, and with cheap VPS any none tech guy can install. Updated post subject. ---
**Author:** ![shoulders](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/shoulders/32/10086_2.png) [@shoulders](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/shoulders)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 7:30am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/8 "2024-04-17T07:30:11Z")
> [@stefan1959](#): > > For Virtualmin installs, should there be a warning in the Webmin section that changing settings in Webmin section can cause issue with the running of Vrtuamin and they should not proceed unless they have experience with the Linux Operating System, proceed with caution. If you have root access you should either know what you are doing or if you are just starting out that running commands and messing with stuff you don’t understand can breaks things… I think it is implied that changes in webmin can affect virtualmin settings because you are logged in as root. At various points in webmin when stuff that is managed by virtualmin is possibly going to get changed there are messages. `Webmin Users > Edit Webmin User > Available Webmin modules` ![image](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f6577f1cfbac93aaff26fabf8d1a4bf7a108b78f.png) Lastly, Virtualmin and Webmin alter and utilise the OS config files and it uses the OS commands to carry out tasks. Virtualmin and Webmin sit on top of the OS, they are not part of it, so unless you do something really weird, everything should still work. It is preferred to use Virtualmin for various tasks if you have it installed. ---
**Author:** ![stefan1959](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@stefan1959](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/stefan1959)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 8:34am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/9 "2024-04-17T08:34:20Z")
Seems like I’m the only seeing issues where changes in webmin breaks things in Virtualmin in the forums. Just ignore if no one thinks its a issue. ---
**Author:** ![shoulders](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/shoulders/32/10086_2.png) [@shoulders](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/shoulders)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 9:02am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/10 "2024-04-17T09:02:46Z")
I am not experienced enough at Webmin/Virtualmin to give any examples of where webmin breaks stuff, but it shouldn’t really unless you are doing system wide stuff. ---
**Author:** ![stefan1959](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@stefan1959](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/stefan1959)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 9:11am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/11 "2024-04-17T09:11:07Z")
The server and hardware sections are powerful. ie Playing around in like apache server globally can bring the server down if you don’t know what the settings do. Where in virtualmin section it impossible to bring the apache server down. Alot a people are moving away from Cpanel due to pricing. WHM/Cpanel are pretty safe to change settings as a GUI and people need to aware of that. ---
**Author:** ![shoulders](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/shoulders/32/10086_2.png) [@shoulders](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/shoulders)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 9:30am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/12 "2024-04-17T09:30:58Z")
I see your point. cpanel/WHM is so expensive and their GUI is designed to hide most of the stuff from the end user such as Easy Apache and OS updates. While researching the different cpanels price was an issue and even thought Virtualmin was on the list and free I did not look at it until last because it seemed complicated and I could not figure out how Webmin/Virtualmin/Usermin/Filemin all worked together and why there were so many different softwares. I think the new documentation hub will help, but this software is not suitable for newbies who want to setup hosting companies. It is ideal for experienced users that what configurability and newbies who want to play and learn. If virtualmin wants to take on the middle ground there would need to be changes to the GUI and maybe a simple message that this will break stuff would not be enough. ---
**Author:** ![Stegan](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/stegan/32/6860_2.png) [@Stegan](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/Stegan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/13 "2024-04-20T14:05:34Z")
The only thing confusing me here is “root users” who here has multiple “root users” my OS systems have only one “root” user. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jimr1](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/jimr1/32/14173_2.png) [@jimr1](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/jimr1)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/14 "2024-04-20T18:42:40Z")
Any user in the sudo group could be classed as a root user as that user can do what ever a root user can do, towit webmin respects that and will run commands at the elevated level. Hence they are ‘root’ users ---
**Author:** ![Stegan](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/stegan/32/6860_2.png) [@Stegan](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/Stegan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 9:02am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/15 "2024-04-21T09:02:48Z")
I have always referred to this “_special_” group of users as “sudoers” perhaps that is why? ---
**Author:** ![jimr1](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/user_avatar/forum.virtualmin.com/jimr1/32/14173_2.png) [@jimr1](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/jimr1)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/16 "2024-04-21T10:00:53Z")
It could be also said that the OP is using the term “root users” when they actually mean “domain owners” that’s not clear ---
**Author:** ![system](https://cdn.forum.virtualmin.com/uploads/default/original/2X/c/cd96d761e326db4b2bef94886a639109bd7a8e76.svg) [@system](https://forum.virtualmin.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 10:01am UTC](https://forum.virtualmin.com/t/virtualmin-root-users-changing-settings-in-the-webmin-section/126034/17 "2024-06-20T10:01:04Z")
Closed on June 20, 2024, 10:01am UTC This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.