General Configuration

Once this process begins the following screen is presented:

MD5 Passwords? The default reply is set to No, so only if you really know what you want and are willing to deal with the NIS problems presented by the use of MD5 Passwords, should you change this to Yes. Whatever you choose will present the next screen:

Shadow Passwords? As this screen implies, even with the potential NIS problems shadow passwords are a good idea. Because the actual encrypted password is kept separate from the password file, shadow passwords are considered more secure. If this is the first time running base-config, then the following screen will appear next:

Root Password Information If you have already been through this stage once, then the root password will already be installed, and these screens will not appear during a second pass.

Since there is no other choice on the introduction screen than <Ok>, pressing enter is the only way to proceed with the installation. The next screen asks for the password that will be used to access the root account.

Enter Root Password When you enter a password for root there will be an additional screen much like this one, asking you to verify this password.

Verify Previous Password Simply type in the same password again and it will be assigned to the root account. The next screen presents some very good reasons for having accounts with less permissions than the root account.

Additional user Accounts There are many other good reasons to have a simple user account to use when using your Debian system to do the jobs you need a Linux system to do for you.

If you press enter to activate the <Yes> button you will be offered a screen for entry of the required information.

If you don't want to create a user at this time, press the tab key, highlighting the <No> button, and press ENTER. You will not be presented with the add user screen. If you pressed the <Yes> button on the previous screen, the add user screen is presented next.

Adding a New User After you enter a user name, the next screen provides an entry for the full name of the user.

User's Full Name Dwarf usually leaves this field blank. Whatever you decide to enter, the next two screens will ask for the password for this user.

Password for New User Enter the same password in each screen.

Verify New User Password The second entry is to verify the password, so they must be identical for it to be accepted. Unless the target machine is a laptop, it will most likely not be using pcmcia. If that is the case, the next screen is presented.

Remove PCMCIA Packages? If you have no pcmcia hardware simply press enter. If you do have such hardware, tab to the <No> button and press enter.