Debian 11's Terminal isn't working as expected.

[Average Nerd]

Just so I said it, I am a complete newbie to Linux, and know next to nothing about it.

Anyways, here's the problem:

I installed debian 11, but, when I try to do anything in Terminal that requires me to enter my password, this happens:

What am I doing wrong?

[thevictor390]

Are you a standard user instead of administrator?

https://vitux.com/how-to-make-a-user-an-administrator-in-debian/

 

[Eigenvektor]

12 minutes ago, Average nerd said:

What am I doing wrong?

Simply put, you are not root and root did not authorize your to use sudo.

 

So either log in as root and do the update, or log in as root and add your normal users to sudoers, so you can use sudo.

[Average Nerd]

26 minutes ago, thevictor390 said:

Are you a standard user instead of administrator?

https://vitux.com/how-to-make-a-user-an-administrator-in-debian/

 

I was. After some messing around I got that changed. But it still doesn't work. I get the same results.

18 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

log in as root and add your normal users to sudoers

How do I do that?

[LloydLynx]

Become root with

su -

Install a text editor called Nano

apt install nano

Run "visudo" using the Nano text editor

env EDITOR=nano visudo

Scroll down and change these lines to look like mine.

Exit Nano with Ctrl+x, then choose yes to "Save modified buffer".

 

Now run usermod to add yourself to the sudo group.

usermod -aG sudo <your username>

If you don't know your username exactly, you can open a new terminal and run "whoami" to find out.

 

Now that you've completed all steps, logout and log back in.

[Average Nerd]

1 hour ago, LloydLynx said:

Become root with

su -

Install a text editor called Nano

apt install nano

Run "visudo" using the Nano text editor

env EDITOR=nano visudo

Scroll down and change these lines to look like mine.

Exit Nano with Ctrl+x, then choose yes to "Save modified buffer".

 

Now run usermod to add yourself to the sudo group.

usermod -aG sudo <your username>

If you don't know your username exactly, you can open a new terminal and run "whoami" to find out.

 

Now that you've completed all steps, logout and log back in.

I'll try that as soon as I'm back from school, thanks!

[Eigenvektor]

1 hour ago, LloydLynx said:

usermod -aG sudo <your username>

If you don't know your username exactly, you can open a new terminal and run "whoami" to find out.

Or combine these two commands into one like this:

usermod -aG sudo $(whoami)

 

$(some command) will run "some command", then use its output as part of the outer command. So in the above case it'll run "whoami", then insert its return value into the usermod command.

[LloydLynx]

9 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Or combine these two commands into one like this:

usermod -aG sudo $(whoami)

 

$(some command) will run "some command", then use its output as part of the outer command. So in the above case it'll run "whoami", then insert its return value into the usermod command.

It'll just output "root" in this case, since usermod is being executed by root in a root shell.

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, LloydLynx said:

It'll just output "root" in this case, since usermod is being executed by root in a root shell.

Yeah, you're right of course… didn't think of that

[Average Nerd]

12 hours ago, LloydLynx said:

Become root with

su -

Install a text editor called Nano

apt install nano

Run "visudo" using the Nano text editor

env EDITOR=nano visudo

Scroll down and change these lines to look like mine.

Exit Nano with Ctrl+x, then choose yes to "Save modified buffer".

 

Now run usermod to add yourself to the sudo group.

usermod -aG sudo <your username>

If you don't know your username exactly, you can open a new terminal and run "whoami" to find out.

 

Now that you've completed all steps, logout and log back in.

This worked, thank you very much!

 

Annoyingly I will have to buy a new PSU for the computer before I can actually use it tough, because its current one decided to die during a restart. Now the computer will turn on, but a built-in surge protection of the mobo prevents it from actually booting up, claiming the PSU is "unstable". That's some perfect timing.