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Starting and stopping the system

Logging in as the superuser

Many system maintenance tasks require you to log in as the superuser. For example, you must be logged in as the superuser to stop the system. Do not confuse the superuser login with running in single-user mode. The only similarity is that both require the use of the root password.

To log in as the superuser, you must know the superuser password. If you do not know the root password, ask the administrator who installed your system. You also need to see the login: message on the screen. If you are using a character-based display and do not see this message, press <Ctrl>D until it appears.


WARNING: Take special care when you are logged in as the superuser. In particular, you should be careful when deleting or modifying files or directories. This is important because the superuser has unlimited access to all files, and it is possible to remove or modify a file that is vital to the system. Avoid using wildcard designators in filenames and keep track of your current working directory.

To log in as the superuser:

  1. When you see the login display, enter the superuser login name:
       login: root
    

  2. Enter the superuser password when prompted. The system does not display the password as you enter it, so enter each keystroke carefully.
The system opens the superuser account. If you are using a graphical display, you see the Desktop of the root account. If you have logged in to a character-based display, you see the superuser prompt ``#''. You can exit at any time by pressing <Ctrl>D.
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© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003