How do I get root access to hard drive from livecd?

Ubuntu 11.10 has faffed up on me, It wont let me get passed the login-screen ( i have been searching around online the last two days and none of the proposed solutions worked) as at this point I don't care to try to fix it

I have booted the liveusb and need access to my files so i can move them to an external drive, the issue is i cant move, for example, .thunderbird, as i don't have permission

so please, how can i get permission? as in how do i get to enter password so i can move my files

(please don't confuse what I am asking, as on other forums that i have googled, people keep saying that you are root in a livecd session, this completely misses the point, i need root privilege to move the files from the hard-drive, gksu nautilus doesn't give permission to move/copy files)

Solution 1:

IIRC root is root wherever you're logging in from, be that the CD, another installation or whatever.

If you're having issues, on the CD just load a root instance of nautilus (Alt+F2, gksu nautilus) and carry on.

If your filesystem has suffered some damage it might be mounting in read-only mode. If you're trying to move things, this won't work. So for the purposes of your backup only try to copy things.

Solution 2:

In the commandline, type in the following

gksudo nautilus

Press enter and a folder will open, and as long as you're within it, you have root access to all your documents- including the one's on the hard drive.

Regards!