diff --git a/pkg/abstractions/shell/shell.go b/pkg/abstractions/shell/shell.go
index 98b13a57a..16e5fea4a 100644
--- a/pkg/abstractions/shell/shell.go
+++ b/pkg/abstractions/shell/shell.go
@@ -219,12 +219,16 @@ func (ss *SSHShellService) CreateShell(ctx context.Context, in *pb.CreateShellRe
 
 	startupCommand := fmt.Sprintf(`
     set -e;
-    USERNAME='beam';
+    USERNAME='root';
     TOKEN='%s';
-    useradd -m -s /bin/bash "$USERNAME";
     echo "$USERNAME:$TOKEN" | chpasswd;
-    echo "cd /mnt/code" >> "/home/$USERNAME/.bashrc";
+    echo "if [ -f /root/.bashrc ]; then . /root/.bashrc; fi" >> "/root/.profile";
+    echo "cd /mnt/code" >> "/root/.profile";
+    echo "export TERM=xterm-256color" >> "/root/.bashrc";
+    echo "alias ls='ls --color=auto'" >> "/root/.bashrc";
+	echo "alias ll='ls -lart --color=auto'" >> "/root/.bashrc";
     sed -i 's/^#PasswordAuthentication.*/PasswordAuthentication yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config;
+    sed -i 's/^#PermitRootLogin.*/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config;
     sed -i 's/^#PubkeyAuthentication.*/PubkeyAuthentication no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config;
     echo "AllowUsers $USERNAME" >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config;
     exec /usr/sbin/sshd -D -p 8001
diff --git a/sdk/src/beta9/abstractions/mixins.py b/sdk/src/beta9/abstractions/mixins.py
index f3ee91c49..1ac487785 100644
--- a/sdk/src/beta9/abstractions/mixins.py
+++ b/sdk/src/beta9/abstractions/mixins.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def shell(self, url_type: str = ""):
             container_id=container_id,
             stub_id=self.parent.stub_id,
             auth_token=self.parent.config_context.token,
-            username="beam",
+            username="root",
             password=ssh_token,
         ) as shell:
             shell.start()