If you want to quickly create a new user account in your Unix OS, it ca be done with just one line
Adding new user accounts in Unix
To create a basic Unix user account with default settings, you need to know only one thing: the username.
The reason I say it as one word is because username (quite often referred to as "login") is not the actual name of the new person gaining access to your Unix system, but rather a single keyword uniquely identifying this user in your system. Most often, usernames are derived from real names of users – jsmith, johns or smithj for John Smith, just to give you a few examples.
The simplest way to add a new user to your system is to do run a command like this:
ubuntu# useradd jsmith
If you don't get any errors thrown back at you, this means your command was executed successfully and you now have a new user. Use this command to verify:
ubuntu# finger jsmith Login: jsmith Name: Directory: /home/jsmith Shell: /bin/sh Never logged in. No mail. No Plan.
If you attempt to create a user with existing username, you'll obviously get an error:
ubuntu# useradd jsmith useradd: user jsmith exists
Setting a password for the newly created user account
Once you have created new user, you'll most likely need to have a new password assigned to it. Here's how you do it:
ubuntu# passwd jsmith Enter new UNIX password: Retype new UNIX password: passwd: password updated successfully
As you can see from the example, you'll be asked to type the new password twice, and it will be assigned to the user only if both inputs match.
See also:
- How to list groups a user belongs to
- Find files which belong to a specific user
- Unix user management commands
The useradd command is not exactly the same in different UNIXEN a.o. Linux flavors. Some time ago I also noticed an "adduser" script ( I think it was Redhat).
Now let's look at how useradd works in Solaris:
#useradd -u jack -g other -c "Jack The Ripper" -d /export/home/username -s /bin/ksh -m jack
-c comment
-u uid
-g group
-d userdir
-s path to shell
-m make it
If you don't specify a group id, Solaris defaults to "other".
If you don't explicitly specify the home dir, it won't be created.
Hi Kuba,
And thanks for stopping by! I know exactly the script you're talking about, I've seen adduser long time ago too.
The useradd command is a more recent one, and it's syntax is very close, if not the same, among all the Linux systems and Solaris.
This is the first post, so I'll be sure to expand on it explaining all the options! Also, since most users who are new to Unix don't know what home directory is anyway, they don't have to specify it – and even though the homedir won't be created, the user entry itself will be added without a problem.
Thanks for a great comment! Great to know someone's watching, and for more advanced users – great way to learn from comments until I post more.
ya its really useful to me
How do you change the owner of all files owned by a user to another user?
Hi Dave, I've just answered your question in today's post:
https://www.unixtutorial.org/2009/02/how-to-change-ownership-of-files-and-directories-in-unix/
Good example. It helped me in creating the user and assinging the password.
Thanks
Sreenivasa
I apply this command on server but this error is then what I do and which type of problem
useradd jsmith
sh: useradd: not found.
thks..it was really helpful
Do I have to have sudo rights to do that?
Try adduser jsmith
Chown