What is root?
Root is the name of the most powerful account on a Debian installation. The root user account can do everything on the machine. Root is also known as supervisor and administrator. Root's home (~) folder is /root.
root has uid?FootNote(uid is user identifier, a number which identifies all user accounts) 0 and gid?FootNote(gid is group identifier) 0.
Password
At installation time, you are asked whether you want to use the root account or not.
if you want to (the default), you'll be asked to provide a complex password for root. Use a strong one!
if not, no root account is enabled and the password of the first user created will be used for administration tasks.
If you forgot your password, read [http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-tips#s-crackroot "I forgot the root password!"]
How to use root level access as a normal user.
- Under Gnome : in Gnome Application Menu/Accessories/Root Terminal
From console : read Debian Reference's [http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-tutorial#s-login-root Login to a shell prompt as root]
In a terminal, you can use [http://manpages.debian.net/man/1/su su] (or [http://manpages.debian.net/man/1/gksu gksu]) to change your identity to root, However, it's recommended to configure and use [http://manpages.debian.net/man/1/sudo sudo] (or [http://manpages.debian.net/man/1/gksudo gksudo]) to run a given command.