Linux:Adding a user

You can use the sudo useradd (username) command inside the terminal to add a new user. If you are using OpenSUSE you need to use sudo /usr/sbin/useradd (username) command to add new users because the useradd command is not in the normal location.

When you add a new user Linux will set the home directory to /home/(username) and populate it with the files copied from /etc/skel location. Plus it will add a line to the /etc/passwd file and set the default shell to /bin/bash for the new user.

To view what files will be copied to the home directory when a new user is created input cd /etc/skel and then ls to list the contents of the folder in the terminal.

To view the /etc/passwd file input less /etc/passwd in the terminal.

For each user a line is added to the passwd file in the following format: username:x:user ID(UID):primary group ID(GID):group list:user information (like phone numbers):home directory location: command/shell.

For example the steven line (steven:x:1001:1001:drom,lpadmin,sambashare,newgroup:/home/steven:/bin/bash) from the screen shot above means:

• Username = steven
• Password(x) = encrypted password
• UserID = 1001
• Primary Group ID = 1001
• Groups the user belongs to = drom,lpadmin,sambashare,newgroup
• User Information = None
• Home Directory Location = /home/steven
• Command Shell Location = /bin/bash

The encrypted passwords is stored in the /etc/shadow file and is displayed as an x in the /etc/passwd file.

When you create a new user it will be setup in a locked state. To unlock the user account you have to set a password for that user using the passwd (username) command.