Ubuntu 8.04 server vsftpd and user permissions

I've installed ubuntu 8.04 server edition and kept just the command line interface. I simply want to transfer files from another computer to the /var/www/ folder.

When I set ubuntu up I created a user called cruser and gave him a password, but it never gave me the option to add a password for my root user.


1. how do I setup a password for the root user - know it's not recommended but I may just start only using the superuser cause I'm tired of this permissions crap. If I can get #2 and #3 working then I'll stick with the created user.
2. how do i set permissions on the /var/www/ folder so the created user 'cruser' can transfer files or how do I set it to allow the user 'cruser' to be recognized to transfer to the www/ folder
3. how do i set vsftpd to when user 'cruser' logs in that he starts in the /var/www/ and not the home/cruser/ folder

Just some little things that I've found in documentation but I'm missing something. Thanks for any help.

Open the terminal and type:
sudo passwd root
When you see the prompt that says "Enter new UNIX password", enter the password you want for the root user and confirm it.

Any command to allow my created user write access to the var/www folder. I can navigate all the directories, but can only write to my home/cruser/ folder.

I've gone through a couple of ubuntu docs and they didn't work. Basically, creating a new group and chmod the folder.

I hate it when that happends cause now I feel the configuration is all out of whack on something that should have worked.

This is all permissions. I got it working the way I need it.

I changed the chmod for the www/ folder and then set the user as owner using chown for the www/ folder.

sudo chmod 775 /var/www/
sudo chown cruser -R /var/www/


I got my root pass changed too. So, thnx for your help on that.