1

I came across What is the command to switch to normal user? and was a bit mystified that the question is closed as a duplicate of a largely unrelated question.

The closed question asks how to switch to a regular user after you have successfully obtained privileged access with su or sudo.

The current duplicate su command + authentication failure asks about authentication failures, probably because the OP was trying to input their own password to su (this is correct for sudo, but wrong for su). There are answers which (tangentially) explain how to switch to a regular user account with sudo su; but this is at best an obscure answer to a slightly different question, and arguably not a good answer to the question about authentication failures.

I have not spent a lot of effort on searching for additional duplicates; it is possible that there is a better duplicate and that the duplicate target should simply be redirected.

(The reason I want it to be reopened is that it lacks an answer specific to sudo which I was looking for, and found an answer to on a different site. I'd like to be able to add that answer to this question, too.)

2
  • 1
    It is most likely related to some -now deleted- comments by the OP. The second answer answers the OP's question correctly, but the initial answer is accepted. This makes me assume that the OP just didn't word the question directly and wanted to switch to root mode. I can't be certain though.
    – Dan
    Mar 20, 2023 at 14:44
  • I don't think the questions asks that at all. It's really vague, but their prompt shows walter@walter-VirtualBox not root@walter-VirtualBox so I don't think it is about switching back to a normal user. My first guess is that the OP is used to working as root, so they want to switch "back" to root which is their "regular" user.
    – terdon
    Mar 20, 2023 at 14:45

1 Answer 1

1

I guess from the comments the consensus is "no" and given the perspectives offered, I concur.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .