Password for root not working

I'm having exactly the same problem. No matter how simple a root password I create, once I log out of the admin account I can't log into root. I'm using user name 'root', and I've tried all three of the root passwords I created in Directory Utilities. This is with 10.7 on a new 11" Air; I'll try installing the 10.7.1 update to see if that helps.

Restart with Command-R and run Password Utility to reset your account password and create a new one.

No dice. When I get into the password utility and enter a new password for 'System Administrator (root)', it tells me the password cannot be saved.

"The password you entered has not been saved for the user System Administrator (root). You may not have permission to edit this disk or a general failure has occured."

Thanks for the input! Any other ideas?

Start wtih http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1528

Yeah, that's the source I was using to enable it. After doing those steps, and logging out of the admin account, root just would not accept the password I had set.

Apple discourages the user of the root user for good reason. If you need to be root, use "sudo" from the command line.

Try this:

1. Restart in Single User mode (hold Command-S during startup). Note that single-user mode always uses the US English keyboard layout.
2. At the prompt, type this followed by Return: mount -uw /
3. Type this:

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist

1. Press Return
2. Type this, then press Return: ls /Users
3. Look at the listing and note the short name (username) of the affected user account.
4. Type this:
   
   dscl . -delete /Users/username AuthenticationAuthority
   
   Note: Replace "username" with the affected user account's short name you noted above.
5. Press Return
6. Type this, followed by Return: passwd username
   
   Note: Replace "username" with the affected user account's short name you noted above.
7. At the "New password:" prompt, type the user's password, then Return. Note: It is recommended that the original user's password be used to match the keychain password.
8. At the "Retype new password" prompt, type the same password, followed by Return.
9. Type this, followed by Return: reboot

If this doesn't work, go again into Recovery mode and reinstall Lion. I've already tried this, no fear. Reinstalling (it's quite long...) was successful, and Lion got in the same condition, with no need to configure preferences and apps.

Same problem here with not being able to log in as root after following the instructions for doing so in Lion found in HT1528. (I am a long time user of OS X and have logged into root many times for various tasks. I am actually trying to change the name of a user directory as described in HT1428 where the first step is to enable the root user.) I was on the phone with an Apple Tech for an hour yesterday about the problem. Command-R and Password Utility did not work. Same result as described above. Tech's final advice: Reinstall Lion. I did this and this did not work either: I am still not able to log in as root. The same problem was there after the 2 hour reinstall process..... I was about to do a clean install (wipe HD etc... can chnage user directory name then!) when I found this thread. Perhaps I'll wait a bit now now.

Has anyone solved this problem? Thanks.

Having never had a reason to enable the root user, I can't help with your issue. However, if you want to report this issue to Apple's engineering, send a bug report or an enhancement request via its Bug Reporter system. To do this, register as an Apple Developer—it's free and available for all Mac users and gets you a look at some development software. Since you already have an Apple username/ID, use that. Once a member, go to Apple BugReporter and file your bug report or enhancement request. You'll get a response and a follow-up number; thus, starting a dialog with engineering.

Same Problem here on a new Macbook Air.

The password to log in into the root-account has stopped working. First time I could log in just fine. But after a while i can not log in once more.

It is not even possible to change the root password to get in the root-acount again. Not even via Terminal (passwortreset via Terminal in the recovery-partition)

A clean install finally make it work. But when i checked it again... the same problem...

Annoying! (5 hours research and reinstall... just gone... !)

So farI had the problem tested only on the new Macbook Air. But I've just checked it right now also on three other Macs.

The same problem.

OS: Lion 10.7.1

I think many more users will have this problem. But many will not know or notive, because they rarely use their root account...

What's next now?

Yes, I can verify that (on a MacBook Pro) the problem reappears after a clean reinstall. I wiped the hard drive, reinstalled Lion and upgraded to 10.7.1. Initially, after enabling the root account, I could log in as root. But after reinstalling the rest of my software, I tried again and could not. (I was able to change the name of the user directory in the process of the clean reinstall, however.) Perhaps this will be fixed in 10.7.2?

Unless you and others report the issue via the bug reporter system, the odds of getting it resolved are slim to none. Do note that Apple discuourages enabling the root account for most tasks. the su and sudo commands are usually sufficient for what you'd want to do.

But you should admit that the root account should work, right?
He does not.

Especially for developers very disappointing. Alsoannoying for users who know what they do when they activate the root account for specific tasks.

Apple should fix this soon. I think, this bus is already reported.