Linux

Honestly, it sounds like you set up some unusual settings when you first set up Ubuntu. Usually, the default Ubuntu options will disable root and give your first account sudo permissions. If it didn’t do that, then it should still have root enabled as a user you can log in as.

I mean no disrespect, but it seems like you need some terminal fundamentals that will be difficult for me to relay to you one at a time. Instead, I’m going to give you the basic game plan that I would run here, and then I suggest you google the individual commands to see how they work.

Step 1: Get Admin Permissions

It is imperative that you get administrator privileges. Try logging out completely and logging in as root. If that doesn’t work, do some googling about Ubuntu root accounts and wrack your brain to remember what you selected when you first set up the OS. When you get access to the root account, you should be able to run that command from earlier to add your user to the sudo group. Running commands with sudo will give your primary account root like permissions without having to risk a fat finger error like you do with root.

Step 2: Try Changing File Permissions

Once you have sudo or root access, use sudo or root to run the chmod 777 command to change a file’s permissions to global access. This will allow any user or program to access that file. There are other chmod restrictions that are more specialized that you may want to learn about, but 777 is a good place to start while testing this because we want to reduce the chance of something going wrong as much as humanly possible.

Step 3: Look For Dependancies

Look up terminal install instructions for google drive. Are there other programs that need to be installed first that may have been missed? If so, install all dependencies.

Step 4: Test Other Distros

Spin up a VM of Debian and try installing google drive there. Does it work on Debian? If so, it may be some setting with Ubuntu that is keeping it from working. I’ve occasionally run across weird incompatibilities with Ubuntu that resolve themselves on Debian.

Step 5: The Nuclear Option

If it works in Debian or another distro, then you may want to consider switching distros, reinstalling Ubuntu, or spending a few hours of googling to figure out what the differences are between the two OS’s to track down your problem. Tracking the solution down may be the hardest option, and though it seems daunting, switching distros isn’t so bad.

Good luck, soldier! The sweet release of solving a problem in Linux is better than any orgasm. I honestly think if you do googling about root accounts, sudo, chmod, and the individual dependencies for your malfunctioning programs, that you will figure this out.

If you get it fixed, I’d love to hear your solution. Also, I’m happy to answer more questions if you make some progress and hit another block, I just figured it was easier to spell out a whole plan instead of giving it to you a step at a time.