Kali Linux 2020.2 Root account setup

For years now, Kali has inherited the default root user policy from BackTrack. As part of evaluation of Kali tools and policies they have decided to change this and move Kali to a “traditional default non-root user” model. This change will be the part of the 2020.1 release & onwards.

There is no superuser account from Kali 2020.1 henceforth the default user is now a standard one.

What is the use of super user?

Root account has all privileges to manage a system. The super user account have higher access rights, those with higher access can bypass the internal controls of the arch.

Setting up a root account in Kali 2020.1

Open the terminal

Type the command ‘sudo su’ without the single inverted commas; it will prompt for a password for Kali standard account. Enter the password.

Type the command 'passwd root’ without the single inverted commas.

Enter the password & retype it.

The root account has now been set-up. You can now log off & login with the root account.