Section 3.1. Obtaining an Account

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3.1. Obtaining an Account

In order to login on a Linux system, you'll need to get an account. If you will be using someone else's Linux computer, they can create an account for you. If you have installed your own Linux system, you should have already created your own account during the installation process. If not, you must login as "root" (the administrator account) for now and create your own account. See page 584 of Chapter 14, "System Administration" for information on creating and maintaining user accounts. It is extremely important to create your own account rather than simply using the root account. The root account has full system privileges and if you use that account all the time, it is much too easy to accidentally delete or damage critical system files.