Creating user accounts

Creating a new user account in a Linux operating system involves several steps, including user creation, specifying user details, setting a password, and configuring user permissions.

Note: The following instructions are for systems using the useradd and passwd commands, which are common in many Linux distributions. Some distributions may use different tools or have graphical user interfaces for user management.

Open a Terminal:
- To create a new user account, open a terminal on your Linux system. You will need superuser (root) privileges to create a new user.
Create the User:
- Use the useradd command to create a new user. Replace new_username with the desired username.
```
sudo useradd new_username
```
This command creates a new user account with default settings. The user's home directory will typically be created in /home/new_username.
Set User Details:
- You can specify additional user details, such as the user's full name and contact information, using the useradd command with the -c option.
```
sudo useradd -c "Full Name" new_username
```
Replace "Full Name" with the user's actual full name.
Set Password:
- To set a password for the new user, use the passwd command.
```
sudo passwd new_username
```
You will be prompted to enter and confirm the user's password. Make sure to choose a strong password.
Assign User to Groups (Optional):
- By default, a new user is placed in a group with the same name as the username. You can add the user to additional groups using the usermod command.
```
sudo usermod -aG groupname new_username
```
Replace groupname with the name of the group you want to add the user to.
Verify User Creation:
- You can use the id command to verify that the user has been created and to check their group memberships.
```
id new_username
```
Set Home Directory Permissions (Optional):
- By default, the user's home directory is created with appropriate permissions. However, if you need to modify permissions or ownership, you can use the chown and chmod commands.
```
sudo chown new_username:new_username /home/new_username
```
This command changes the owner and group of the user's home directory to match the username.
```
sudo chmod 700 /home/new_username
```
This command sets strict permissions on the user's home directory, allowing only the user to read, write, and execute files within it.
Log In as the New User:
- To test the new user account, you can switch to the user's session using the su (substitute user) command.
```
su - new_username
```
You will be prompted to enter the user's password.
(Optional) Grant Administrative Privileges (sudo):
- If you want the new user to have administrative privileges, you can add them to the sudo group. This allows the user to execute commands with superuser privileges using sudo.
```
sudo usermod -aG sudo new_username
```
This step is optional and should be done with caution. Only grant sudo access to trusted users who need it.
Logout and Log In:
- After creating the user account and configuring permissions, it's a good practice to log out and log in as the new user to ensure everything is working as expected.