# Single-User Mode

In single-user mode, all Nix operations that access the database in `prefix/var/nix/db` or modify the Nix store in `prefix/store` must be performed under the user ID that owns those directories. This is typically root. (If you install from RPM packages, that’s in fact the default ownership.) However, on single-user machines, it is often convenient to `chown` those directories to your normal user account so that you don’t have to `su` to root all the time.