Can't access Postgres superuser in fresh PG installation

Question

I followed the installation guide here to install Postgres on my Mac OS 10.10 using Homebrew.

When I run su - postgres, it prompts for a password. Entering my root password fails with the message su: Sorry.

I've checked other answers where sudo su - postgres worked for people, but it doesn't work for me. Entering my root password here returns su: unknown login: postgres.

What else could the password be if not my root password? This is a brand new installation and never asked me to set a password.

And yes, I've started Postgres as instructed in the above guide using lunchy start postgres.

Any recommendations?

possible duplicate of [Postgres user does not exist?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21122598/postgres-user-does-not-exist) — nathancahill, May 16 '15 at 00:48
You should always just use `sudo -u postgres -i` . No need for `su`. But in this case with homebrew it sounds like the user is named `_postgres`. — Craig Ringer, May 16 '15 at 01:17
_postgres didn't work but psql postgres from that link did work. Thanks. — Alex Barron, May 16 '15 at 01:21

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 06 '18 at 15:09

You're basically trying to login as postgres into the postgres engine. But if your Mac doesn't have a user postgres, then you won't be able to login no matter what password you use. Alternatively, use any super user to login.

With my current user as a super user, I simply logged into postgres by using pgsql

Can't access Postgres superuser in fresh PG installation

1 Answers1