Sudo command-it has a small key icon behind it and prevents me from entering the password

The lock icon is a decoration and nothing more.

Type your password, then the <return> key.

While typing, NOTHING will echo, but the sudo command is seeing everything you type.

Your password will not echo

mikexr wrote:

I am quite familiar with su. Having the same issue. This didn't start until i did the upgrade to El Capitan. I am the administrator on my mac and it fails when i enter my password. is there some setting somewhere that i need to set now. I need to get to syslog and can't because i can't run sudo

'su' by itself need the 'root' account password, but by default OS X disables 'root' account logins, as it is a serious security risk on any Unix platform.

'sudo' takes the current user's password, assuming the current user is an administrator.

If you are not logged in as an administrator, you can use

su admin_users_shortname -c 'sudo command arguments'

As to why you cannot run 'sudo', we would need to see error messages that you are getting. Also if your account is part of the '80(admin)' group

id -a # and look for '80(admin)'

I am quite familiar with su. Having the same issue. This didn't start until i did the upgrade to El Capitan. I am the administrator on my mac and it fails when i enter my password. is there some setting somewhere that i need to set now. I need to get to syslog and can't because i can't run sudo

Given your unfamiliarity with how terminal and the sudo command work, be very careful what you are doing. You can quickly and easily mess up your computer.