" Su returned with an error " in KDE [SOLVED]

[JediatNight]

Hi all,

I'm running Knoppix 5.1 and i cant use my root password in KDE dialogs for anything ..whenver i try to login in administrator mode in KDE , i get an "Su returned with an error" message .


I read in a few forums that its because users should be added to the sudoers list ..
Im posting the contents of my sudoers file in /etc/sudoers , below:


# sudoers file.
#
# This file MUST be edited with the "visudo" command as root.
#
# See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file.
#

# Host alias specification

# User alias specification

# Cmnd alias specification

# User privilege specification
root ALL=(ALL) ALL

# KNOPPIX WARNING: This allows the unprivileged knoppix user to start commands as root
# KNOPPIX WARNING: This is totally insecure and (almost) makes knoppix a second root account.
# KNOPPIX WARNING: Never allow external access to the knoppix user!!!
Myusername ALL=(ALL) ALL


Can anyone tell me whats wrong? I tried a lot but it doesnt seem to work for me..even though the configuration seems correct

Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance

[marhleet]

if this is an install,
you can login as root ?
but not get some su things to work

get kpackage to do all the updates it can
some of the packages are out of synch i think with older/newer versions

after a dist-update
and update
and install
i got my root access back

[JediatNight]

I can login as root in the bash shell using the command su . I will try upgrading the distro and see if i can get into the sudoers list.

can you login as root in the KDE menus in administrator mode? or only in bash shell? Please let me know.

[marhleet]

root can't login to the kde desktop environ

but you will see that if you can login on the ctrl-alt-F1/2/3/4 screens then you can still su away
just not in gui mode

but once the system is all synched up with the apt-get update's
fingers x'd
should be back to normal

[JediatNight]

I did apt-get dist-upgrade and then apt-get update

Still , I have the same error , "Su returned with an error " in KDE 3.5 HD install

I'm running kernel 2.6.18 as I had to use the driver for my Nvidia Gefoce2 MX 200 card

Can anyone tell me how i can get rid of this error and use administrator mode in KDE ?

I can work in super user mode SU in the bash shell but not in the graphical menus of KDE.
Did anyone has the same problem?

if i type sudo in the bash shell , i get the following:

bladerunner@andromeda:~$ sudo
sudo: /etc/sudoers is owned by uid 1000, should be 0

Please let me know if you can suggest anything.
Thanks in advance

[onemyndseye]

Ah!!!... Theres the rub (so to speak) lol

This file should be owned by root (UID=0)
So.... as root do this:

chown root:root /etc/sudoers

Also the file permissions may need to be reset with something like:
(as root)

chmod 0650 /etc/sudoers

Im curious to know how this file came to be owned by UID=1000 (which is you BTW).. did this file get deleted somehow causing you to have to re-create it? Any guess?

Hope this helps,
-Justin
One Mynds Eye

[Rocket]

Hi all,

I'm running Knoppix 5.1 and i cant use my root password in KDE dialogs for anything ..whenver i try to login in administrator mode in KDE , i get an "Su returned with an error" message .

Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance

A work around I have been using, used the run to start kdesu konqueror. Instead of hitting ok, I go into options & select run as a different user "Root" with passwd. This gives me a GUI method of working the admin side of things, with this error still in place for normal methods.

[JediatNight]

Thanks, I will try this and let this forum know.. Any Debian admins here can comment why I get the error which is described above? Isn't it possible to fix it in the "normal way" ?

Awaiting your respose(s),

Thanks in advance

[JediatNight]

Thanks One Mynds Eye , it worked

but i had execute chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers as root instead of chmod 0650 /etc/sudoers

I too dont know how it got owned by UID 1000 . I think i recreated the file with a text editor,kwrite after deleting it.

cheers

[Capricorny]

Instead of
Myusername ALL=(ALL) ALL
I used
%sudo ALL=(ALL) ALL

Then everyone belonging to the sudo group, and no one else, can run sudo. It works fine here. To edit, it's safest to run the visudo command. vi tutorial for example here: http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/Tutor/vi.html