Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 - STEP BY STEP GUIDE Manual page 22

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If you have already created and logged in to a user account, you can skip ahead to
Chapter 2 Using the Graphical Desktop. If you created only the root account, refer to
Section 1.6 Creating a User Account to learn how to set up a user account.
If you did not create a user account using the Setup Agent, you must log in as root. After you create a
user account, it is highly recommended that you log in as that user instead of root to prevent accidental
damage to your Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation.
Caution
Because your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system creates the root account during installation, some
new users are tempted to use only this account for all of their activities. This is a dangerous idea,
because the root account is allowed to do anything on the system. You can easily damage your
system by accidentally deleting or modifying sensitive system files. You may be tempted to forego
creating and using a user account during or after installation, but it is not recommended.
1.3.1. Graphical Login
When your system has booted, a graphical login screen is displayed as shown in Figure 1-14. Again,
unless you have chosen to give your machine its own hostname, which is primarily used in a network
setting, your machine will probably be called
To log in as root from the graphical login screen, type root at the login prompt, press [Enter], type
the root password that you chose during installation at the password prompt, and press [Enter]. To log
in as a normal user, type your username at the login prompt, press [Enter], type your password that
you selected when creating the user at the password prompt, and press [Enter].
Logging in from the graphical login screen automatically starts the graphical desktop for you.
1.3.2. Virtual Console Login
During installation, if you selected an installation type other than Workstation or Personal Desktop
and chose text as your login type, you will see a login prompt similar to the following after booting
your system:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 4
localhost
Figure 1-14. The Graphical Login Screen
Chapter 1. Getting Started
.