what's the proper way to administer a remote linux server? ssh randymarsh9: Hire me to use ssh. phogg: do you take bitcoin randymarsh9: no, I take payment only in Linux support. That YOU provide, later. to other people what is ssh file transfer protocol claled sftp scp sftp > scp, but sure you can use scp too ok i want to use scp but whenever i try to edit/move file i get access denied only root has access to modify those files you've answered your own question then i can't login as root though there's gotta be a simple way to do this without changing folder permissions everytime i know how from ssh but want to do the same from scp There is, you log in as root no, i turned that shit off because some stupid security blog told me it's the right thing to do you are basically telling me the hard way to do it i already know how to do it the hard way i was looking for something easier through scp telling me to login as root is hardly an answer randymarsh9: Log in as your user, then sudo up to root aeyxa: how do you sudo up in scp randymarsh9: What files are you moving, where are you moving them from, what have you tried. aeyxa: want to edit files in /etc/ randymarsh9: Do you have permission to use the root account? yes, but the login through scp with root is turned off randymarsh9: If you only want to edit files, I don't know why you're asking about scp and sftp. aeyxa: because if i do it through scp i'm able to use the gui