Adding and managing users and groups
Beyond the Basics
The command line provides all the necessary tools for creating and maintaining multiple accounts. By understanding these commands, you can more effectively manage your system.
If you have ever done any system administration, chances are you have added an account or a group. However, both tasks offer possibilities beyond the plain command. Not only do numerous options exist to modify the basic command, but a variety of other commands are available for manipulating users and groups and viewing their activities.
Users and groups are means of controlling access to a Linux system. A user account gives normal access to a system, whereas user membership in a group gives access to different hardware, subsystems, and files. Typically, each user account is matched with a group of the same name, so that users can access the files in their home directory. In some distributions, only the ordinary user created during installation has full non-root access, and you might have to add new users to each group to which the first user belongs.
Adding and Deleting
In Debian-based distributions, the easiest way to create a new user is with adduser, a script that leads you through the process. After you enter the command adduser NAME, you are prompted for a name, a password, and optional contact information that in effect turns a list of users into a contact list. Other information, such as the user ID (UID), is created for you, starting with 1000 (Figure 1). Non-Debian distributions also include adduser, but in most cases it is an alias for useradd.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
EndeavorOS Mercury Neo Available
A new release from the EndeavorOS team ships with Plasma 6.3 and other goodies.
-
Fedora 42 Beta Has Arrived
The Fedora Project has announced the availability of the first beta release for version 42 of the open-source distribution.
-
Dash to Panel Maintainer Quits
Charles Gagnon has stepped away as maintainer of the popular Dash to Panel Gnome extension.
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.