Chapter 12. Frequently Asked Questions

This chapter answers some of the most common questions about using Red Hat Enterprise Linux that you may ask as you become more familiar with it. From recovering forgotten passwords to troubleshooting package installation problems, this chapter guides you step-by-step through some common tasks to get you on your way.

12.1. Localhost Login and Password

I have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux. After rebooting, I get a message telling me it needs a localhost login and password. What are these?

Unless you specified a hostname for your computer, or received that information from a network connection, your Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation names your machine localhost.localdomain by default.

When you get to that initial prompt, it is asking you to log in to your system. If you created a user account with the Setup Agent, you can log in using that username and password. If you did not create a user account, then you can log in as the super user, also known as root. The root password is the system password you assigned during installation.

It is highly recommended that you create at least one user account for regular use of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. You can create a new user after logging in as root with the User Manager graphical tool or the useradd shell prompt utility. For more information, refer to Section 1.6 Creating a User Account.