How to rename root in linux

Asked By Henry M Mackey 20 points N/A Posted on - 02/07/2015

I have root access to a Linux terminal and wanted to know how i would change the root name to another name, is this possible? Would this damage the system? What characters are used in the names and how long does this effect? Do i have to restart the machine?

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Answered By Anyet Thngo 0 points N/A #192952

How to rename root in linux

Hi Henry,

 

It is practically possible to rename the root account name. In this process, some applications will be affected because some of these assume that the default root account is named root and "root" will be hard coded in these programs.

 

There is absolutely no security benefit attributed towards renaming the root account. The name of the account is not a factor towards root exploits.

 

Regards,

Anyet

 

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• Posted on - 02/11/2015
• Question Category: Linux Distributions