Knowing how to manage users is a vital part of responsible system administration. This article will help you get up to speed on working with users and groups.
Adding & Removing Users
With sufficient privileges, you can add a user to the system. This will also give that user a home directory.
Debian/Ubuntu & Centos/Rhel
adduser alex
Arch
useradd -m alex
To remove a user, use the following commands. Removal of the user’s home directory can either be done manually or with the addition of a command option in most distributions.
Debian/Ubuntu
# Delete user without deleting their home directory.
deluser alex
# Delete a user along with their home directory
deluser --remove-home alex
Centos/Rhel & Arch
# Delete user without deleting their home directory.
userdel alex
# Delete a user along with their home directory
userdel -r alex
Set Passwords
Setting user passwords requires both sufficient privileges and and the previous (if any) password.
Debian/Ubuntu, Centos/Rhel & Arch
passwd alex
Creating and Populating Groups
Creating groups helps organize users by association, function and ownership as well as organization by privilege level.
You can view the groups a user belongs to with the groups command.
groups alex
Create a Group
To create a new group, use the groupadd command
Debian/Ubuntu, Centos/Rhel & Arch
groupadd sudoadmins
Add Users to a Group
Adding users to the group is just as straightforward. Keep in mind here that the group comes after the user in the Arch syntax.
Debian/Ubuntu & Centos/Rhel
usermod -aG sudoadmins alex
Arch
gpasswd -a alex sudoadmins
Remove a Group
Removing a group, like adding, takes another common command.
groupdel sudoadmins
Latest posts by Alexander Woyte (see all)
- Arch Linux Install for Beginners (Guide) - June 27, 2019
- How to Create Swap Space in Arch Linux (Guide) - June 26, 2019
- How to Install KDE Plasma in Arch Linux (Guide) - June 25, 2019