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Usermod Command

The usermod command modifies user accounts on Linux and UNIX systems. It allows administrators to change attributes like the user's home directory, login shell, name, user ID, expiration date, and group memberships. The usermod syntax specifies the login name being modified followed by options like -d to change the home directory, -u to change the user ID, or -G to modify group memberships. Configuration is controlled by settings in /etc/login.defs and it modifies information stored in files like /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.

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27 views

Usermod Command

The usermod command modifies user accounts on Linux and UNIX systems. It allows administrators to change attributes like the user's home directory, login shell, name, user ID, expiration date, and group memberships. The usermod syntax specifies the login name being modified followed by options like -d to change the home directory, -u to change the user ID, or -G to modify group memberships. Configuration is controlled by settings in /etc/login.defs and it modifies information stored in files like /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.

Uploaded by

Darko
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Linux usermod command

Updated: 12/29/2017 by Computer Hope

• About usermod
• usermod syntax
• usermod examples
• Related commands
• Linux and Unix commands help

About usermod
Modifies a user account.

Description
The usermod command is used by an administrator to change a user's system account settings, as listed
in the options below:

usermod syntax
usermod [options] LOGIN

Options
-a, --append Add the user to the supplementary group(s). Use only with the -G option.
-c COMMENT, The new value of the user's password file comment field. It is normally
--comment
modified using the chfn utility.
COMMENT
The user's new login directory.
-d, --home
HOME_DIR If the -m option is given, the contents of the current home directory will be
moved to the new home directory, which is created if it does not already exist.
The date on which the user account will be disabled. The date is specified in the
format YYYY-MM-DD. An empty EXPIRE_DATE argument will disable the
-e EXPIRE_DATE,
expiration of the account.
--expiredate
EXPIRE_DATE
This option requires a /etc/shadow file. A /etc/shadow entry will be created if
there were none.
The number of days after a password expires until the account is permanently
disabled.

-f INACTIVE, A value of 0 disables the account as soon as the password has expired, and a
--inactive INACTIVE value of -1 disables the feature.

This option requires a /etc/shadow file. A /etc/shadow entry will be created if


there were none.
The group name or number of the user's new initial login group. The group
must exist.
-g GROUP, --gid
GROUP
Any file from the user's home directory owned by the previous primary group
of the user will be owned by this new group.
A list of groups that contain the user as a member. Each group is separated from
-G, --groups the next by a comma, with no intervening whitespace. The groups are subject to
GROUP1[,GROUP2, the same restrictions as the group given with the -g option. If the user is
...[,GROUPN]] currently a member of a group that is not listed, the user will be removed from
the group.
The name of the user will be changed from LOGIN to NEW_LOGIN. Nothing
-l NEW_LOGIN,
else is changed. In particular, the user's home directory or mail spool should
--login NEW_LOGIN
probably be renamed manually to reflect the new login name.
Lock a user's password. This puts a "!" in front of the encrypted password,
effectively disabling the password. You can't use this option with -p or -U.
-L, --lock
Note: if you want to lock the account (not only access with a password), you
should also set the EXPIRE_DATE to 1 using -e (see above).
Move the content of the user's home directory to the new location.

This option is only valid in combination with the -d (or --home) option.
-m, --move-home
usermod will try to adapt the ownership of the files and to copy the modes,
ACL and extended attributes, but manual changes might be needed afterwards.
When used with the -u option, this option allows to change the user ID to a
-o, --non-unique
non-unique value.
The encrypted password, as returned by crypt.

Note: This option is not recommended because the password (or encrypted
password) will be visible by users listing the processes (using the ps command,
-p PASSWORD, for instance).
--password
PASSWORD The password will be written in the local /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow file. This
might differ from the password database configured in your PAM (Pluggable
Authentication Module) configuration.

You should make sure the password respects the system's password policy.
-R CHROOT_DIR, Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR chroot directory and use the configuration
--root CHROOT_DIR files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
-s SHELL, --shell The name of the user's new login shell. Setting this field to blank causes the
SHELL system to select the default login shell.
The new numerical value of the user's ID.

This value must be unique, unless the -o option is used. The value must be non-
negative.

The user's mailbox, and any files which the user owns and that are located in
-u, --uid UID the user's home directory will have the file user ID changed automatically.

The ownership of files outside of the user's home directory must be fixed
manually.

No checks will be performed with regard to the UID_MIN, UID_MAX,


SYS_UID_MIN, or SYS_UID_MAX values from /etc/login.defs.
Unlock a user's password. This removes the "!" in front of the encrypted
password. You can't use this option with -p or -L.
-U, --unlock
Note: if you want to unlock the account (not only access with a password), you
should also set the EXPIRE_DATE (for example to 99999, or to the EXPIRE
value from /etc/default/useradd) using the -e option (see above).
The new SELinux user for the user's login.
-Z SEUSER,
--selinux-user
A blank SEUSER will remove the SELinux user mapping for user LOGIN (if
SEUSER
any).

Notes
You must make certain that the named user is not executing any processes when this command is being
executed if the user's numerical user ID, the user's name, or the user's home directory is being changed.
usermod checks this on Linux, but only check if the user is logged in according to the utmp file on
other architectures.
You must change the owner of any crontab files or at jobs manually.
You must make any changes involving NIS (Network Information Service) on the NIS server.

Configuration
The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool:

Name Type Description


The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox
MAIL_DIR string when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not
specified, a compile-time default is used.
Defines the location of the users' mail spool files relative to their home
MAIL_FILE string
directory.
Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a
new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
same password, and same GID).

The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number
of members in a group.
MAX_MEMBERS_
number This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in the
PER_GROUP
group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS groups are not
larger than 1024 characters.

If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.

Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools. You should not
use this variable unless you really need it.

Files
usermod makes use of the following files:

/etc/group Group account information.


/etc/gshadow Secure group account information.
/etc/login.defs Shadow password suite configuration.
/etc/passwd User account information.
/etc/shadow Secure user account information.

usermod examples
usermod -d /home/exampleusernew exampleuser

Modifies the home directory for the exampleuser account, changing it to /home/exampleusernew.

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