How can I run a shell as Admin in Terminal if Im logged in as User with standard privileges? I know the passwords for user and admin account
One easy way is to su to the admin user than use sudo -s
to become root shell.
su - shortname_for_admin
sudo -s
This also is covered well in the linked questions:
I believe this has to do with the /etc/sudoers
file, which is shown at the end of this answer. The important line is repeated below.
%admin ALL = (ALL) ALL
This line gives the administrator accounts the ability to use the sudo
command. If you know the user name and password for an administrator account, the enter the commands given below to become the root user. When prompted for a login:
, enter the user name for the administrator account. When prompted for a Password:
, enter the password for the administrator account.
login
sudo login -f root
To return to your user account, enter the commands given below.
exit
exit
Appendix
Output from cat /etc/sudoers
.
#
# Sample /etc/sudoers file.
#
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
#
# See the sudoers man page for the details on how to write a sudoers file.
##
# Override built-in defaults
##
Defaults env_reset
Defaults env_keep += "BLOCKSIZE"
Defaults env_keep += "COLORFGBG COLORTERM"
Defaults env_keep += "__CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING"
Defaults env_keep += "CHARSET LANG LANGUAGE LC_ALL LC_COLLATE LC_CTYPE"
Defaults env_keep += "LC_MESSAGES LC_MONETARY LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME"
Defaults env_keep += "LINES COLUMNS"
Defaults env_keep += "LSCOLORS"
Defaults env_keep += "SSH_AUTH_SOCK"
Defaults env_keep += "TZ"
Defaults env_keep += "DISPLAY XAUTHORIZATION XAUTHORITY"
Defaults env_keep += "EDITOR VISUAL"
Defaults env_keep += "HOME MAIL"
Defaults lecture_file = "/etc/sudo_lecture"
##
# User alias specification
##
# User_Alias FULLTIMERS = millert, mikef, dowdy
##
# Runas alias specification
##
# Runas_Alias OP = root, operator
##
# Host alias specification
##
# Host_Alias CUNETS = 128.138.0.0/255.255.0.0
# Host_Alias CSNETS = 128.138.243.0, 128.138.204.0/24, 128.138.242.0
# Host_Alias SERVERS = master, mail, www, ns
# Host_Alias CDROM = orion, perseus, hercules
##
# Cmnd alias specification
##
# Cmnd_Alias PAGERS = /usr/bin/more, /usr/bin/pg, /usr/bin/less
##
# User specification
##
# root and users in group wheel can run anything on any machine as any user
root ALL = (ALL) ALL
%admin ALL = (ALL) ALL
## Read drop-in files from /private/etc/sudoers.d
## (the '#' here does not indicate a comment)
#includedir /private/etc/sudoers.d
su
and carry on. So straightforward I'm sure I'm missing the point ... – High Performance Mark Feb 23 '18 at 8:32sudo
is not sufficient? There seems to be a lot missing from this question. – Allan Feb 23 '18 at 11:06sudo -s
and you are root on any and all macOS systems out of the box, no fiddling with enabling root user or setting a root password. – bmike♦ Feb 23 '18 at 17:19