Ubunutu Server, Minimal setup. I don’t use desktop version or the GUI for installing. I am pretty sure this is not optional because the root account is “disabled” until I enable it by giving it a password after installation.
Debian uses the root account and does not force you to create a second account, but I can’t remember if it offer you the ability to do it during the install.
root might not be disabled but it has an expired password which prevents you from logging into it until you set a password. In particular according to Joe a password hash is used starting with a ! creating an invalid hash. To most people in the world this = disabled.
Also if you read my second post
and
swelljoe Now you should be able to login as any user that has ALL sudo privileges. This feature was added to accommodate systems like Ubuntu that do away with having a “root” account, by default (Ubuntu has a root account, but it has no password and the first user created gets added to the sudoers file automatically).
Wow how come you didn’t set up the enviroment correctly ? I guess this to be your inexperience with linux which you openly admit is not an os you know very little about and come froom a windows background. Advice here is to learn how to use linux rather than windows … they are totally different
I don’t know where you are getting your Ubuntu image from but I have 5 boxes all in different countries and all using Ubuntu 22.04.3
I have root access to all of them with a password. I also have a SUDOer account on all of them with a password. So there is no “forcing” by Ubuntu. Perhaps you are using some weird image with a non-typical setup. ie not really Ubuntu. I have not come across a “Minimal install” and cannot see why I would ever want to.
It doesn’t “make you”, but the default installation of Ubuntu offers to create a new user during installation and that user will be added to sudoers with ALL privileges, and no root password will be set.
This is a very reasonable thing for the installer to do (one of the few cases where I think Ubuntu made a good decision ahead of the curve…they’ve been doing this for at least a decade, and maybe more, and many other distros were later to do so, though most can do it during install now, as well).
Calm down, this is not something to fight about. If you perform an installation of Ubuntu from an ISO on bare metal hardware, and you follow the defaults, you will end up with no root password set and a first user with sudo ALL privileges. That’s not controversial or difficult to prove. You can set a root password. A root user obviously exists on any Linux system, but many distros will not set a root password during install unless you tell it to; the first user will be a sudo-capable user. This is a pretty good security practice.
Not fighting about - just completely opposite to my experience.
I have not installed on my own personal “bare metal” always on physical boxes provided (either by corporate IT rooms or by VM services) In such cases I do not have physical access to either the box or obviously the ISO used. (though when offered to reinstall from ISO, I trust that they do so and have requested that on a number of times).
I have never used anything other than Ubuntu in the past (since about 2006) and have always been asked for a root password. The creation of a SUDOer is optional. I have no problem with that and usually do so. (but not always and certainly not “forced” to do so as declared by the OP “it makes you”) Perhaps that statement should have been less aggressive and been “it suggests you”.
If someone has their root account "disabled I would suggest that it is time to revert to ISO.
Your providers opted to set a root password, because I guess that’s simpler than explaining to their customers the alternative. But, it’s not the default.
OK I am prepared to accept that as an explanation. There has always been a third party involvement. Mark this one up as “The new fact I learned today”!
I hope @shoulders will accept my apology for my misunderstanding and finds a solution to the problem.
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