HD Install: "su" errors

[knoenrico]

Hi guys,

I've just installed on the hard disk of my PC the 5.1 release and I'm facing some "su" errors:
I read the previous posts about "sudo" errors and ran the following commands as root:

1. "chown root:root /etc/sudoers"
2. "chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers"


I still got the following errors each time I login in KDE:

1. If I try to modify date and time I got: "Su returned with an error"

2. If I try to mount the floppy disk I got: "mount can't find /media/fda in etc/fstab...."

3. If I try to mount the CD ROM I got: "Feature only available with HAL"

What's wrong?

Thanks for any help,
Enrico

[JohnnyH]

1. If I try to modify date and time I got: "Su returned with an error"

Did you do anything more than chown and chmod sudoers ?
I can only suggest that you look at all the work-arounds in http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26361

2. If I try to mount the floppy disk I got: "mount can't find /media/fda in etc/fstab...."

Try mounting your Floppy using KDiskFree (Right-click on the device) instead of the desk-top Icon.

Was folder /media/fda created for you by the Knoppix Installer ?
Does configuration file /etc/fstab contain a line starting with /dev/fd0 ?
You may need to create some folder(s) or symbolic links.

3. If I try to mount the CD ROM I got: "Feature only available with HAL"

Try mounting your CD ROM using KDiskFree (Right-click on the device) instead of the desk-top Icon.

Was a folder e.g. /media/cdrom created for you by the Knoppix Installer ?
You may need to create some folder(s) or symbolic links.

Does configuration file /etc/fstab contain a line starting with e.g. /dev/cdrom ?

Does e.g. /dev/cdrom exist ? you may need to create a symbolic link to a block device e.g /dev/hd<your-cdrom-drive-ide-letter>

[knoenrico]

Hi,

Did you do anything more than chown and chmod sudoers ?
I can only suggest that you look at all the work-arounds in http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26361

I read that post carefully and did the following things:

1. chown root:root /etc/sudoers (as root)
2. chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers (as root from the command line)
3. %sudo ALL=(ALL) ALL (vi editor launched as root)

The problem still shows up: if I login in KDE as a regular user I can't:

- modify the NIC settings (IP,DNS...) (therefore no Internet access)
- modify date and time
- ....

The pop-up error is the usual "Su returned with an error"

How is that possibile? I really don't understand what's wrong here.

thanks,
Enrico

[JohnnyH]

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26361 now gives the definitive answer; see Page 3.

Good luck

[knoenrico]

>http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26361 now gives the definitive answer; see Page 3.
>Good luck

Hi JohnnyH,

I read carefully that post but I wasn't able to fix the problem (I'm a Linux newbie).

Since I really wanted to install Knoppix on my hard disk, I downloaded and installed the 5.0 version, which doesn't have that problem.

Knoppix 5.0 is running just fine

Enrico

[JohnnyH]

Enrico,

I will summarise a procedure for you anyway, as you will need it if or when you want to upgrade to Knoppix >= 5.1.1

1. Open your home directory in Konqueror.
2. In menu "View" open "Show Hidden Files"
3. Drill down to /home/<knoenrico-name>/.kde/share/config
4. Click-on /home/<knoenrico-name>/.kde/share/config/kdesurc
to open kdesurc with KWrite
5. Edit statement from

super-user-command=sudo

to

super-user-command=su

6. Save kdesurc and close KWrite

7. kdesu should now work correctly

[knoenrico]

Enrico,

I will summarise a procedure for you anyway, as you will need it if or when you want to upgrade to Knoppix >= 5.1.1

1. Open your home directory in Konqueror.
2. In menu "View" open "Show Hidden Files"
3. Drill down to /home/<knoenrico-name>/.kde/share/config
4. Click-on /home/<knoenrico-name>/.kde/share/config/kdesurc
to open kdesurc with KWrite
5. Edit statement from

super-user-command=sudo

to

super-user-command=su

6. Save kdesurc and close KWrite

7. kdesu should now work correctly

Hi JohnnyH,

thanks for your clear explaination. That's the answer that a newbie needs

As soon as I get myself oriented in Linux I will upgrade to the latest version.

Enrico

[freshmeadow]

Thank you Johnny H. Your summary of the instructions helped me solve the su error as well, and taught me more about the many uses of Konqueror as an internal system browser.
Cheers from Guelph, Ontario!javascript:emoticon('')

[crackbaby]

Enrico,

I will summarise a procedure for you anyway, as you will need it if or when you want to upgrade to Knoppix >= 5.1.1

1. Open your home directory in Konqueror.
2. In menu "View" open "Show Hidden Files"
3. Drill down to /home/<knoenrico-name>/.kde/share/config
4. Click-on /home/<knoenrico-name>/.kde/share/config/kdesurc
to open kdesurc with KWrite
5. Edit statement from

super-user-command=sudo

to

super-user-command=su

6. Save kdesurc and close KWrite

7. kdesu should now work correctly

Hi JohnnyH,

thanks for your clear explaination. That's the answer that a newbie needs

As soon as I get myself oriented in Linux I will upgrade to the latest version.

Enrico

I usually don't take the time to register on a forum to post a reply on one fix, but just wanted to say this worked for me
knoppix 5.1

[quantum]

Hi all,

I've just landed here trying to fix a bug with a hdd install of knoppix 5.3.1.

I was getting an error reading "Feature only available with HAL" after trying to launch the dvd drive. It was a drag of a problem as I did this build for a media box . I'd done the kdesu update and was on the sudoers list But still the same result.

To cut a long story short.

There seemed to be a typo in my /dev folder. All the devices associated with my optical drive had a two at the end of them. Renaming them fixed the problem and the drive is now recognized as it should be.

eg:
/dev/dvd2 to /dev/dvd
/dev/dvdrw2 to /dev/dvdrw
/dev/cdrom2 to /dev/cdrom
and so on for all devices associated with the drive.

Hope this saves someone some grief!

All the best,

quantum.