Sysmaint question

Qubes-Whonix
1

Hi all, I’m a bit of a noob, I installed a new version of whonix gateway and whonix workstation 17 on qubes. how do I install the programs I need in whonix workstation? now sudo doesn’t work, I haven’t figured out how sysmaint works.

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Copy/paste error messages into search engines / forum search.

→ Zsh: permission denied: sudo

and/or

→ Whonix 17.3.9.9 - Point Release!
→ Qubes-Whonix - user-sysmaint-split - Point Release!

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I see this: Whonix-workstatuion-17: Cant use sudo “permission denied: sudo” - on brand new template - #2 by alimirjamali - General - Qubes OS Forum

but I’m being asked for the password when I try to download an application, I am asked to enter the password from sysmaint

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See usage instructions:

In case of continued issues… Please don’t rephrase. Instead, please post:

  • commands,
  • executed where (such as dom0, Template or App Qube),
  • and the output of the command.
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  1. I entered the command into dom0:qvm-run -u sysmaint whonix-workstation-17 xfce4-terminal
  2. In the whonix workstation 17 terminal, I tried to install the program with the command: sudo apt install flameshot

In response, I get this:
/usr/libexec/security-misc/pam-info: ERROR: Reboot or choose ‘PERSISTENT Mode - SYSMAIN Session’ for system maintenance. See: sysmaint - System Maintenance User
/usr/libexec/security-misc/pam-info: WARNING: 8 failed login attempts for user_named ‘sysmaint’
Login will be blocked after 50 attempts.
You have 42 more attempts before unlock procedure is required.

[sudo] password for sysmaint:

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This command is not mentioned in documentation.

Please use the command from documentation.

Links already provided in my previous post.

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Hi

I see userna is also experiencing this problem most likely on Qubes whonix template vm. I’ve just encountered the same issue now and also cannot seem to find a solution. I’ve tried my system as well disk password and neither seem to work . Is it perhaps got anything to do with Kicksecure not being setup correctly? I would have thought qvm-run -u whonix-workstation-17 xfce4-terminal would have given me a terminal with the correct privileges and persistence.

Is there perhaps something we’re both missing or supposed to be doing?

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Any use or setup of Kicksecure is unrelated to gaining administrative (“root”) rights in any Whonix VM.

Privileges, yes.

Note, that the qvm-console-dispvm or qvm-run command has to be run in dom0. Does that work for you?

No passwords required.

Persistence is unrelated, unchanged, up to Qubes only. See also: Qubes Persistence

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Thanks very much for the feedback Patrick! I did run the following in Dom0

qvm-run --pass-io whonix-workstation-17 'sudo apt install openssh-askpass'
/bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/sudo/: Permission denied

The Whonix workstation is running but no terminal with privileges.

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10

Wrong syntax. You’re executing as root if following the wiki. No sudo needed.

qvm-run

qvm-run -u root vm-name xfce4-terminal

Using qvm-console-dispvm might be more secure than qvm-run.

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