Introduction
In this article, we will explain how you can enable the root user on a Linux server.
Prerequisites
- A VPS with Linux Operating System installed.
- You must be logged in via SSH as with a sudo user. This tutorial assumes that you are logged in as a sudo user.
Step 1: Log in using SSH
You must be logged in via SSH with the user in your client area.
Step 2: Become root
After a successful login with the user use the following command for becoming root:
sudo -i
Step 3: Set root password
The root user is disabled by default. We have to set a new root password, you can do this as followed:
passwd
It will ask you for a password twice.
Step 4: Enable root remotely
The root user is disabled remotely for SSH you can enable this by editing the following file /etc/ssh/sshd_config.
Change the following line:
PermitRootLogin without-password
with
PermitRootLogin yes
Step 5: Reload SSH
To apply the new SSH configuration reload SSH:
systemctl restart sshd
Conclusion
Congratulations, you have enabled the root user on your Linux server.