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.
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 "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 Login to a shell prompt as root
In a terminal : you can use su (or gksu) to change your identity to root.
However, it's recommended to configure and use sudo (or gksudo) to run a given command.
When you change from a normal user to root, your prompt will change from user@mypc:~$ to root@mypc:/home/user# .
To find out as which user you're operating now, execute the command whoami .