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If you install Webmin, and have still have Ubuntu root password disabled, the initial installation of Webmin won't work, as it creates the disabled root login too.

To fix that, you need to manually change root password. After you perform apt-get install webmin, you have to do the following:

1. get your encrypted password from /etc/shadow. For example, the following command:

   sudo grep your_username /etc/shadow |cut -f2 -d:

   will output the password to the screen.

2. edit /etc/webmin/miniserv.users (you will need superuser rights to save it), and replace the asterisk in the first line with the password you aquired from /etc/shadow, so that the line looks something like this:

   root:$1$e/9mjoasd$asdasljjwynSD42

   Save the file and exit the editor after that.

3. restart webmin:

   sudo /etc/init.d/webmin restart

After that, you can go to https://localhost:10000/ and login using root as the username and the password of your non-root user.

CategoryDocumentation CategoryCleanup