How to Run a Program as Root Without a Password Prompt

sudo

I need to run something as sudo without a password, so I used visudo and added this to my sudoers file:

MYUSERNAME ALL = NOPASSWD: /path/to/my/program

Then I tried it out:

$ sudo /path/to/my/program
[sudo] password for MYUSERNAME:

Why does it ask for a password? How can I run/use commands as root with a non-root user, without asking for a password?

Best Answer

You have another entry in the sudoers file, typically located at /etc/sudoers, which also matches your user. The NOPASSWD rule needs to be after that one in order for it to take precedence.

Having done that, sudo will prompt for a password normally for all commands except /path/to/my/program, which it will always let you run without asking for your password.

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