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The Complete Guide to "useradd" Command in Linux

TheCompleteGuideto"useradd"CommandinLinux
WeallareawareaboutthemostpopularcommandcalleduseraddoradduserinLinux.Therearetimes
whenaLinuxSystemAdministratoraskedtocreateuseraccountsonLinuxwithsomespecificproperties,
limitationsorcomments.
InLinux,auseraddcommandisalowlevelutilitythatisusedforadding/creatinguseraccountsinLinuxand
otherUnixlikeoperatingsystems.Theadduserismuchsimilartouseraddcommand,becauseitisjusta
symboliclinktoit.

useraddcommandexamples

InsomeotherLinuxdistributions,useraddcommandmaycomeswithlightlydifferenceversion.Isuggestyou
toreadyourdocumentation,beforeusingourinstructionstocreatenewuseraccountsinLinux.
WhenwerunuseraddcommandinLinuxterminal,itperformsfollowingmajorthings:
1.Itedits/etc/passwd,/etc/shadow,/etc/groupand/etc/gshadowfilesforthenewlycreatedUseraccount.
2.Createsandpopulateahomedirectoryforthenewuser.
3.Setspermissionsandownershipstohomedirectory.
Basicsyntaxofcommandis:
useradd [options] username
Inthisarticlewewillshowyouthemostused15useraddcommandswiththeirpracticalexamplesinLinux.
WehavedividedthesectionintotwopartsfromBasictoAdvanceusageofcommand.
1.PartI:Basicusagewith10examples
2.PartII:Advanceusagewith5examples
PartI10BasicUsageofuseraddCommands
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1.HowtoAddaNewUserinLinux
Toadd/createanewuser,allyouvetofollowthecommanduseraddoradduserwithusername.The
usernameisauserloginname,thatisusedbyusertologinintothesystem.
Onlyoneusercanbeaddedandthatusernamemustbeunique(differentfromotherusernamealreadyexists
onthesystem).
Forexample,toaddanewusercalledtecmint,usethefollowingcommand.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd tecmint
WhenweaddanewuserinLinuxwithuseraddcommanditgetscreatedinlockedstateandtounlockthat
useraccount,weneedtosetapasswordforthataccountwithpasswdcommand.
[root@tecmint ~]# passwd tecmint
Changing password for user tecmint.
New UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
Onceanewusercreated,itsentryautomaticallyaddedtothe/etc/passwdfile.Thefileisusedtostoreusers
informationandtheentryshouldbe.
tecmint:x:504:504:tecmint:/home/tecmint:/bin/bash
Theaboveentrycontainsasetofsevencolonseparatedfields,eachfieldhasitsownmeaning.Letssee
whatarethesefields:
1.Username:Userloginnameusedtologinintosystem.Itshouldbebetween1to32charcterslong.
2.Password:Userpassword(orxcharacter)storedin/etc/shadowfileinencryptedformat.
3.UserID(UID):EveryusermusthaveaUserID(UID)UserIdentificationNumber.BydefaultUID0is
reservedforrootuserandUIDsrangingfrom199arereservedforotherpredefinedaccounts.Further
UIDsrangingfrom100999arereservedforsystemaccountsandgroups.
4.GroupID(GID):TheprimaryGroupID(GID)GroupIdentificationNumberstoredin/etc/groupfile.
5.UserInfo:Thisfieldisoptionalandallowyoutodefineextrainformationabouttheuser.Forexample,user
fullname.Thisfieldisfilledbyfingercommand.
6.HomeDirectory:Theabsolutelocationofusershomedirectory.
7.Shell:Theabsolutelocationofausersshelli.e./bin/bash.

2.CreateaUserwithDifferentHomeDirectory
Bydefaultuseraddcommandcreatesausershomedirectoryunder/homedirectorywithusername.Thus,
forexample,weveseenabovethedefaulthomedirectoryfortheusertecmintis/home/tecmint.
However,thisactioncanbechangedbyusingdoptionalongwiththelocationofnewhomedirectory(i.e.
/data/projects).Forexample,thefollowingcommandwillcreateauseranushawithahomedirectory
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/data/projects.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -d /data/projects anusha
Youcanseetheuserhomedirectoryandotheruserrelatedinformationlikeuserid,groupid,shelland
comments.
[root@tecmint ~]# cat /etc/passwd | grep anusha
anusha:x:505:505::/data/projects:/bin/bash

3.CreateaUserwithSpecificUserID
InLinux,everyuserhasitsownUID(UniqueIdentificationNumber).Bydefault,wheneverwecreateanew
useraccountsinLinux,itassignsuserid500,501,502andsoon
But,wecancreateuserswithcustomuseridwithuoption.Forexample,thefollowingcommandwillcreatea
usernavinwithcustomuserid999.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -u 999 navin
Now,letsverifythattheusercreatedwithadefineduserid(999)usingfollowingcommand.
[root@tecmint ~]# cat /etc/passwd | grep tecmint
navin:x:999:999::/home/navin:/bin/bash
NOTE:MakesurethevalueofauserIDmustbeuniquefromanyotheralreadycreatedusersonthesystem.

4.CreateaUserwithSpecificGroupID
Similarly,everyuserhasitsownGID(GroupIdentificationNumber).Wecancreateuserswithspecificgroup
IDsaswellwithgoption.
Hereinthisexample,wewilladdausertarunikawithaspecificUIDandGIDsimultaneouslywiththehelpof
uandgoptions.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -u 1000 -g 500 tarunika
Now,seetheassigneduseridandgroupidin/etc/passwdfile.
[root@tecmint ~]# cat /etc/passwd | grep tarunika
tarunika:x:1000:500::/home/tarunika:/bin/bash

5.AddaUsertoMultipleGroups
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TheGoptionisusedtoaddausertoadditionalgroups.Eachgroupnameisseparatedbyacomma,withno
interveningspaces.
Hereinthisexample,weareaddingausertecmintintomultiplegroupslikeadmins,webadminand
developer.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -G admins,webadmin,developers tecmint
Next,verifythatthemultiplegroupsassignedtotheuserwithidcommand.
[root@tecmint ~]# id tecmint
uid=1001(tecmint) gid=1001(tecmint)
groups=1001(tecmint),500(admins),501(webadmin),502(developers)
context=root:system_r:unconfined_t:SystemLow-SystemHigh

6.AddaUserwithoutHomeDirectory
Insomesituations,wherewedontwanttoassignahomedirectoriesforausers,duetosomesecurity
reasons.Insuchsituation,whenauserlogsintoasystemthathasjustrestarted,itshomedirectorywillbe
root.Whensuchuserusessucommand,itslogindirectorywillbetheprevioususerhomedirectory.
Tocreateuserswithouttheirhomedirectories,Misused.Forexample,thefollowingcommandwillcreatea
usershilpiwithoutahomedirectory.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -M shilpi
Now,letsverifythattheuseriscreatedwithouthomedirectory,usinglscommand.
[root@tecmint ~]# ls -l /home/shilpi
ls: cannot access /home/shilpi: No such file or directory

7.CreateaUserwithAccountExpiryDate
Bydefault,whenweadduserswithuseraddcommanduseraccountnevergetexpiresi.etheirexpirydateis
setto0(meansneverexpired).
However,wecansettheexpirydateusingeoption,thatsetsdateinYYYYMMDDformat.Thisishelpfulfor
creatingtemporaryaccountsforaspecificperiodoftime.
Hereinthisexample,wecreateauseraparnawithaccountexpirydatei.e.27thApril2014inYYYYMMDD
format.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -e 2014-03-27 aparna
Next,verifytheageofaccountandpasswordwithchagecommandforuseraparnaaftersettingaccount
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expirydate.
[root@tecmint ~]# chage -l aparna
Last password change

: Mar 28, 2014

Password expires

: never

Password inactive

: never

Account expires

: Mar 27, 2014

Minimum number of days between password change

:0

Maximum number of days between password change

: 99999

Number of days of warning before password expires

:7

8.CreateaUserwithPasswordExpiryDate
Thefargumentisusedtodefinethenumberofdaysafterapasswordexpires.Avalueof0inactivetheuser
accountassoonasthepasswordhasexpired.Bydefault,thepasswordexpiryvaluesetto1meansnever
expire.
Hereinthisexample,wewillsetaaccountpasswordexpirydatei.e.45daysonausertecmintusingeand
foptions.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -e 2014-04-27 -f 45 tecmint

9.AddaUserwithCustomComments
Thecoptionallowsyoutoaddcustomcomments,suchasusersfullname,phonenumber,etcto
/etc/passwdfile.Thecommentcanbeaddedasasinglelinewithoutanyspaces.
Forexample,thefollowingcommandwilladdausermansiandwouldinsertthatusersfullname,Manis
Khurana,intothecommentfield.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -c "Manis Khurana" mansi
Youcanseeyourcommentsin/etc/passwdfileincommentssection.
[root@tecmint ~]# tail -1 /etc/passwd
mansi:x:1006:1008:Manis Khurana:/home/mansi:/bin/sh

10.ChangeUserLoginShell:
Sometimes,weadduserswhichhasnothingtodowithloginshellorsometimeswerequiretoassigndifferent
shellstoourusers.Wecanassigndifferentloginshellstoaeachuserwithsoption.
Hereinthisexample,willaddausertecmintwithoutloginshelli.e./sbin/nologinshell.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -s /sbin/nologin tecmint
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Youcancheckassignedshelltotheuserin/etc/passwdfile.
[root@tecmint ~]# tail -1 /etc/passwd
tecmint:x:1002:1002::/home/tecmint:/sbin/nologin
PartII5AdvanceUsageofuseraddCommands

11.AddaUserwithSpecificHomeDirectory,DefaultShellandCustomComment
Thefollowingcommandwillcreateauserraviwithhomedirectory/var/www/tecmint,defaultshell
/bin/bashandaddsextrainformationaboutuser.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -m -d /var/www/ravi -s /bin/bash -c "TecMint Owner" U ravi
Intheabovecommandmdoptioncreatesauserwithspecifiedhomedirectoryandthesoptionsetthe
usersdefaultshelli.e./bin/bash.ThecoptionaddstheextrainformationaboutuserandUargument
create/addsagroupwiththesamenameastheuser.

12.AddaUserwithHomeDirectory,CustomShell,CustomCommentandUID/GID
Thecommandisverysimilartoabove,butherewedefiningshellas/bin/zshandcustomUIDandGIDtoa
usertarunika.WhereudefinesnewusersUID(i.e.1000)andwhereasgdefinesGID(i.e.1000).
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -m -d /var/www/tarunika -s /bin/zsh -c "TecMint
Technical Writer" -u 1000 -g 1000 tarunika

13.AddaUserwithHomeDirectory,NoShell,CustomCommentandUserID
Thefollowingcommandisverymuchsimilartoabovetwocommands,theonlydifferenceishere,thatwe
disablingloginshelltoausercalledavishekwithcustomUserID(i.e.1019).
Heresoptionaddsthedefaultshell/bin/bash,butinthiscasewesetloginto/usr/sbin/nologin.That
meansuseravishekwillnotabletologinintothesystem.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -m -d /var/www/avishek -s /usr/sbin/nologin -c
"TecMint Sr. Technical Writer" -u 1019 avishek

14.AddaUserwithHomeDirectory,Shell,CustomSkell/CommentandUserID
Theonlychangeinthiscommandis,weusedkoptiontosetcustomskeletondirectoryi.e.
/etc/custom.skell,notthedefaultone/etc/skel.Wealsousedsoptiontodefinedifferentshelli.e./bin/tcsh
tousernavin.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -m -d /var/www/navin -k /etc/custom.skell -s
/bin/tcsh -c "No Active Member of TecMint" -u 1027 navin
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15.AddaUserwithoutHomeDirectory,NoShell,NoGroupandCustomComment
Thisfollowingcommandisverydifferentthantheothercommandsexplainedabove.HereweusedMoption
tocreateuserwithoutusershomedirectoryandNargumentisusedthattellsthesystemtoonlycreate
username(withoutgroup).Therargumentsisforcreatingasystemuser.
[root@tecmint ~]# useradd -M -N -r -s /bin/false -c "Disabled TecMint Member"
clayton
Formoreinformationandoptionsaboutuseradd,runuseraddcommandontheterminaltoseeavailable
options.

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