Having trouble changing file to rw

G

gimchess

Hello! I just download FreeBSD for the first time- has been a breeze thanks to your handbook.

I have had one issue trying to add a user to the wheel group though. When I typed in nano /etc/group I got the message at the bottom of the nano editor [file 'etc/group' is unwritable]

So I googled how to change the status of the file and tried this sudo chmod a+rw /etc/group
...and got this message "
Code: 
chmod: /etc/group: Read only file system

I'm confused
 
You will only get a read-only root filesystem if you boot to single user mode. Why are you booting to single user mode? Are you having boot problems? If not, let the system boot normally to multi-user mode.

Also, never edit /etc/group or /etc/passwd directly. Use pw(8) to modify users and/or groups. To add a user to the wheel group: pw groupmod wheel -m <username>
 
Thanks, I was booting into single-user mode because when I entered multi-user I instantly got booted into my GUI (kde plasma) under my non-wheel user. I didn't know how to access my "root" user while in my GUI to edit my user groups so I booted into single user mode.

(I'm figuring this out as I go along, sorry)
 
Jose said:
No worries. Have a look at su(1).
Click to expand...
That presents a bit of a chicken and egg problem. You need to be in the wheel group to be able to su(1).

gimchess said:
I was booting into single-user mode because when I entered multi-user I instantly got booted into my GUI (kde plasma) under my non-wheel user.
Click to expand...
Most of the time you can use CTRL-ALT-F2 to F7 to switch to a virtual console when X is running. You can switch back to X with ALT-F9.
 
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