Create a New User

usually the first user added gets uid/gid of 1000

Add a new user – Basic method Specify only the user name.

# useradd jsmith

Add a new user with additional Parameter You can also specify the following parameter to the useradd

• -c : Description about the user.
• -e : expiry date of the user in mm/dd/yy format

  # adduser -c "John Smith - Oracle Developer" -e 12/31/09
  jsmith
  

  Verify that the user got added successfully.

  # grep jsmith /etc/passwd
  jsmith:x:510:510:John Smith - Oracle
  Developer:/home/jsmith:/bin/bash
  

Change the user password

# passwd jsmith
Changing password for user jsmith.
New UNIX password:
BAD PASSWORD: it is based on a dictionary word
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

How to identify the default values used by useradd? Following are the default values that will be used when an user is created.

# useradd –D
GROUP=100
HOME=/home
INACTIVE=-1
EXPIRE=
SHELL=/bin/bash
SKEL=/etc/skel