Mageia forum

Hi, I would like to make use of the tool box and upgrade features etc etc ,but I am prohibited from doing so because the system demands an authentication password ,which I seemingly do not have. I have exhausted all the password variations I normally use and a null entry to no avail. I can however get into SU on the console using " admin " Can I use console commands to retrieve the situation so I can use the tools and access upgrades etc.

wilt wrote:Hi, I would like to make use of the tool box and upgrade features etc etc

What tool box and which upgrade features? And can you post a screenshot of one such authentication dialog please?

At the very least alos provide the output of the following commands, run as your regular user in a terminal:

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loginctl show-session $XDG_SESSION_ID
ps -ef|grep -v grep|grep -iE "polkit|policykit"
pkexec whoami     # you need to enter your root password when asked by the authentication dialog
echo $DISPLAY

and as root from:

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systemctl status polkit.service -a

Welcome Wilt

Doctor who responded above is very knowledgeable and helpful, but i think you did not express clearly enough what you wanted help with.

I see from the Welcome thread that you use Mageia 4.
I guess that by tool box you mean the drakxtools system utilties?
You wrote you can su in command line. You then get a "#" prompt?
Then so you are root there ant then.
You can then type mcc (and enter) and drakxtools Mageia Control Center starts.

An quicker way is to find Mageia Control Center in the menu and up pops a dialog and thete you anter same password as you did at su.

Current Mageia version is 5, and is similar to 4, but of course upgraded.
Mageia 6 KDE looks a bit different than 4 and 5 KDE as it use Plasma, but works similarly.
Mageia 6 is out when its ready, a month or so maybe... the "stabilisation 1" (like beta version) is officially out if you would like to try it.
The development version (which currently aim to be Mageia 6) is called Cauldron, so curently Mageia6==Cauldron

Can you tell us a bit about yourself (novice on linux, average, or skilled on command line)

Which desktop do you prefer? (KDE/Plasma, Gnome...)

Do you have reliable broadband internet (you can do an online upgrade of your Mageia4 to Mageia5, but not jump to 6)

Do you have other Operating Systems installed on this machine? (Other Linux, Microsoft Windows)

About the machine: What CPU, How big disk, Graphics ?

You could also do a fresh install, either by keeping the /home partition or not, and copy back any files after install.

IMPORTANT: You should back up every user file you want to keep prior to upgrade regardless of upgrade method.


Before upgrading, you could try the Live systems of Mageia 5 and 6 to try out and decide. They boot and run on a DVD or USB flash drive, without needing to alter anything on your hard disk.
Both install media and Live medias are found at
Mageia 5: https://www.mageia.org/downloads/
Mageia 6: https://www.mageia.org/6/
At best you write them to USB memory. https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation ... lash_drive

For upgrading Mageia 4 to 5 see https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_5_Rel ... m_Mageia_4
- But depending on your situation you *may* prefer to do a clean install of 5 or 6.

When I enter SU at the console prompt I do not get the # ,I get the $ and typing mcc brings up the authentication demand again. I have loaded mageia 4 onto a clean hard disk and only boot other live cd's as and when.

Ah, OK so you apparently do not have the root password.
Instead of fighting that problem, i think it is best if you do a clean install, after saving any file you want to keep (if any) on a separate disk.
This time, write down the root password

@morgano: Resetting the root password does not need a reinstall, why do you propose that?

Regardless of resetting root pasword is easy, op would like to run a newer mageia and if i understand his situation correctly he was just testing out Mageia 4 and do not need to keep anything from it. So i suggested a clean install for best experience. (I could have guessed his situation wrong of course)

@wilt: For the other route;
To reset root password: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6346

i find this all very frustrating I 'm afraid . how do I erase the complete system to start again .because the system keeps telling me I am not authorized to do diddly squat

To completely discard the old system in favor of a new,
you boot on the install media, and using the installer,
you simply in the partitioning step set it to install the new system over the old,
(either removing the old partitions and making new ones, or formatting and reusing them)

During the install you are asked to invent the root password for the *new* system.