What is Root Account in Linux

The root account, or root user, has the highest privilege over the system, having complete control over it.

They can easily install any program with the highest privilege, create a user account, assign permissions, and give different privileges to users’ accounts.

Short History

The root account is created by the system administrator who sets up the system or server.

The default user ID for the root user in most Linux distributions is 0.

How do I become a Root User on Linux?

To log into the system as the root user, you need to use “root” as the username and the password that the system administrator used while setting up the system or server.

• How to Switch to Root or Normal User Account in Linux
• Difference Between Su, Sudo Su, Sudo -i, and Sudo -s

However, it is not recommended to directly access a Linux system with a root user; instead, create a normal account and add him to the sudo group.

What is the Sudo Group?

The sudo group exists in most Linux systems and holds root level privileges. If you add your normal user to this group, you will have access to those root level privileges.

• How to Add User to Sudo Group

Only the root user or a user with sudo access can add a normal user to the sudo group.

Once the normal user is added to the sudo group, they can easily execute any command with the highest privileges by adding sudo in front of each command.

$ sudo apt update

After that, they will require the current user’s password to execute the command.

$ sudo apt update
[sudo] password for linuxtldr: 

Back to the Root User

Having access to the system as the root user lets some applications or packages act smartly (referring to malware) to get system access without user awareness.

In those cases, it is recommended to create an application profile by using a program like SELinux or AppArmor for Red Hat or Ubuntu.

That’s all for now. If you have any suggestions for adding more to this article, do let us know in the comment section.