I am trying to enable the root user from the Directory Utility Edit Menu. It was greyed out. Any idea why and how I can enable the root user?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
Are you signed in with an account that has admin privileges?
You need to click the padlock at the bottom of the Directory Utility dialogue window and unlock it with your admin password.
Ignore this if you choose, but there is no good reason to enable the root user.
I don't mind trying to break my own systems but even I do not have root enabled.
Yes. I am the only Admin user on my iMac.
Already did that. 🙂
Dear John,
I was trying to troubleshoot my Mac Web Server. I got the Error 403: Forbidden message when I try to browse the content of my Mac web server. I was following the steps in http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25038. In the terminal, it was asking for my root password. So, I thought I needed to enable the root user and set a password.
So did it unlock?
Note, there is a com.apple.DirectoryUtility.plist in your Preferences but it's hard to believe it would change anything if you removed it.
I don't even have to unlock it. The padlock is already unlocked. But the enable root user still greyed out.
Lock it and then unlock it again.
DU shouldn't have opened with the lock already open.
OK, that KB article references your administrator password - the same one you use to log in to your account. There should be no need to enable the root user.
Strange but it worked. I lock and unlock it and now the Root User can be enabled. Thank you guys/gals. 😉
Somesetting must have been toggled incorrectly for some reason. Closing the lock "homed" it to is proper setting and reopening it caused the code to update the menus appropriately.
My "Enable Root User" is greyed out. I can click it to enable the root user. Any idea?
