Root login from GUI in Fedora16

Fedora16 by default does not allow root login from GUI login screen. The user can use su to switch to root. It is highly not recommended to login directly as root as it is too dangerous to do so. But still some root lovers prefer direct root login. Heres how we can accomplish the task.

First we have to put the normal user in sudoers file so that we can use sudo commands with ease.

Since sudo does not work as of now, so we switch to root using su command.

$ su – root

Give the password for root and we see a hash prompt. Then we go for editing /etc/sudoers file.

# gedit /etc/sudoers

Search for the below mentioned line and copy it to the next line replacing root with your username.

root     ALL=(ALL)              ALL

username        ALL=(ALL)              ALL

Save and quit. Logout root and try doing sudo. It should work.

Next thing we have to do is to edit /etc/pam.d/gdm and /etc/pam.d/gdm-password. Comment the line in both the files that contains

auth                required                     pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet

Below are the screenshots of my /etc/pam.d/gdm and /etc/pam.d/gdm-password files.

Now go ahead logout your normal user and login again as root from GUI login screen.