Change root password to be different than Admin password

rootsudo

I want to change the root password so it is different than the admin password.

I need to change the password so the admin can still be logged on, but the root password to modify the hosts file through terminal with nano at /private/etc/hosts is different.
Even if the admin is logged in, he will need a different set of codes to modify the hosts file.

Is this possible?

Best Answer

I'm not sure I get what you want, but here's how things work on OS X.

You can't prevent an admin user from becoming root with their own password.
Root user isn't enabled, and doesn't even have a password unless you set one.

So, if you want to prevent a user from editing hosts, you need to remove their admin rights. Anything you can lock with special permissions, that admin user can unlock so what I'm guessing you ask is not possible.

Related Solutions

MacOS – Root password stopped working

Assuming you have followed these instructions and still can't get it to let you in as root, I would recommend trying out the instructions in this support discussion to get it working.

How to execute a bash script that requires root privileges

Take the script that you created:

#!/bin/bash

echo "plugin L2TP.ppp">>/etc/ppp/options 
echo "l2tpnoipsec">>/etc/ppp/options

Save it in your home directory, or a 'scripts' directory inside your home directory, as l2tp.sh. Allow it to be executed(write this command in Terminal):

chmod 700 ~/path/to/l2tp.sh

To execute the file using sudo (root privileges):

Method #1. In Terminal type:

$ sudo ~/path/to/l2tp.sh

Method #2. Create a file run_l2tp.command with this contents:

sudo ~/path/to/l2tp.sh

Allow it to be executed:

chmod u+x run_l2tp.command

When you double-click run_l2tp.command and enter the password the l2tp.sh file will be executed with root privileges.

Some notes:

On UNIX like systems, ~ is short for "my home directory".
Chmod 700 will make the file executable only by you. For more information: see this Wikipedia page.
typing 'sudo' before a command will execute the program using root privileges. Be careful when doing this, bad things can happen if you're not sure what you're doing.
Obviously you can omit the /path/to if you saved this script directly in your home directory.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – Root password stopped working

How to execute a bash script that requires root privileges

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