Enabling the Root Account and Remote SSH

Enabling the Root Account Ubuntu Linux And Remote SSH

Re-posted from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

sudo -i

To enable the Root account (i.e. set a password) use:

sudo passwd root

Use at your own risk! 

Logging in to X as root may cause very serious trouble. If you believe you need a root account to perform a certain action,please consult the official support channels first, to make sure there is not a better alternative.

Re-disabling your root account

If for some reason you have enabled your root account and wish to disable it again, use the following command in terminal...

sudo passwd -dl root

Allow login with SSH via remote

pico /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find out line that read as follows:
PermitRootLogin no
 
Set it as follows:
PermitRootLogin yes

Find out line that read as follows (this line may not exists in your configuration):
DenyUsers root user2 user3

Set is as follows:
DenyUsers user2 user3

Save and close the file. Restart the sshd:
# /etc/init.d/ssh restart