Arch Linux

tethys

Member

Registered: 2019-08-13

Posts: 115

[Solved]How to change owner of /etc/sudoers back to root

When performing updates I changed by mistake the owner of the sudoers file from root to my username. How can I change it back to root?
If I try to perform any operation on sudoers file I get the following error messages:

sudo: /etc/sudoers is owned by uid 1000, should be 0
sudo: error initializing audit plugin sudoers_audit

EDIT: I solved the problem by booting from a rescue disk and changing permissions from there. I would still like to know if it is possible to change permissions without the use of a rescue disk.

Last edited by tethys (2024-10-20 12:39:24)

WorMzy

Administrator

From: Scotland

Registered: 2010-06-16

Posts: 12,399

Website

Re: [Solved]How to change owner of /etc/sudoers back to root

If you have set a root password, then just su to root, you can fix the ownership of the sudoers file from there.

Alternatively use pkexec/doas/etc. (if you have them).

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tethys

Member

Registered: 2019-08-13

Posts: 115

Re: [Solved]How to change owner of /etc/sudoers back to root

Thank you WorMzy, it did not strike me to use su, and I have indeed a root pasword.