try a sudo su - it can sometimes work when a nomral su or sudo does not. otherwise you may have some trouble ahead. On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 2:41 PM, david lopez wrote: > Need help! (ubuntu 11.10) > > Somehow managed to do a stupid thing -- that is, from the > >    User_name in menu bar-->User Accounts > > I managed to make all my login accounts 'standard' (normally at least one > login account is 'admin'). When I a try a 'sudo cmd', it says that the > user "is not in the sudoers file". When I try to go back to the User > Accounts > gui and use the unlock icon and enter the correct password, the error > is "An application is attempting to preform an action that requires > privileges. > Authentication as super user is required to perform this action". > > Some linux web pages have recourse assuming the super user account password > has been lost and you may fix it by booting up the session with 'single' > user mode and changing the password via a root command 'passwd'. Since I > can still login into the account which should have super user privileges, > it is not clear that single user mode to change the password will correct > my lack of admin privileges problem. > > BTW, I have not found single user mode recipe for ubuntu 11.10 on the web > that works so I don't know if re-setting the password will fix my lack of > admin privileges. > > Two issues: >  1) How do I remedy my issue in restoring my "admin" privileges >  2) The gui should always make sure that at least one login account has >     'admin' privileges. > > If fixing issue 1) involves the 'single' user mode, where is a good web > recipe for ubuntu 11.10. > > David > > > -- > David Lopez > Software Engineer > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss -- A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. Stephen --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss