Want to have elevated God-like privileges to your Mac OS X system? Then you need to be a Mac root user. In this guide, we will teach you how to enable the root user account in OS X, change the password, and disable it.

For experienced users or power users, you can use Terminal to quickly make these changes :

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• How To Enable The Root User / Change Password (Terminal Method)
• How To Disable The Root User (Terminal Method)

If you are an inexperienced user, you can use the GUI method, which has more steps but does not require keying in commands.

• How To Enable The Root User (GUI Method)
• How To Change The Root User Password (GUI Method)
• How To Disable The Root User (GUI Method)

 

What Is The Mac Root User?

If you are the primary user of a MacOS X system, you have an administrator account with administrator privileges. This gives you more privileges and access than a standard user account. However, that is not the highest access level possible.

There is a Mac superuser account called “root” that gives you elevated read and write privileges to hidden or protected areas of the system. With the Mac root user account, you can even access files in other user accounts.

In fact, it gives you such God-like powers, you can modify or even delete critical system files. So this Mac root account should only remain disabled unless you really, REALLY need to use it.

OS X High Sierra currently has a root bug that allows practically root access in a few simple steps. Therefore, Apple advises you to enable the Mac root account, with your own password, until they fix the bug.

Suggested Reading : The macOS High Sierra Root Bug Explained

 

How To Enable The Mac Root User / Change Password (Terminal Method)

Requisite : You need to be logged into an administrator account.

Please note this method is used to both enable the root account, and to change its password. The single command line of sudo passwd root both changes its password, while enabling the root account.

Step 1 : Click on the Apple () menu, and select System Preferences.

Step 2 : Click on Utilities, and select Terminal.

Step 3 : Type sudo passwd root and press Enter.

Step 4 : You will be asked for your administrator password, not the new root password. Key in your administrator password and hit Enter.

Step 5 : Now key in the new root password, and hit Enter. Then retype the new root password for verification, and hit Enter.

That’s it! You have successfully enabled the Mac root account, with a password of your choice. To use it, you need to log off your administrator account.

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How To Disable The Mac Root User (Terminal Method)

Requisite : You need to be logged into an administrator account.

Step 1 : In Terminal, type dsenableroot -d and press Enter.

Step 2 : Key in your administrator password (not the root user password), and hit Enter.

If you succeed, you will see the notification : ***Successfully disabled root user.

Next Page > How To Enable The Mac Root User Account (GUI Method)

 

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