Managing User Accounts - Paiet/Tech-Journal-for-Everything GitHub Wiki

Requirements
- Username
- Everything else is optional
  - Full name
  - Password
  - Home directory
  - Default shell
Creating users:
- useradd <username>
- useradd -d <homedir> -e <expiredate> -g <defaultgroup> -G <group1,group2,etc> -p <password> -s <shell> -u <UID> <username>
Modifying a user account
- userdel <username>
  - Use -r to remove their files as well
- usermod
  - Rename account: usermod -l jdoe jsmith
  - Lock account: usermod -L jdoe
  - Unlock account: usermod -U jdoe
  - Add user to group: usermod -a -G Marketing
Set password:
- passwd <username>
- chage <username> (Define password expiration policy)
  - Display current info: chage -l jdoe
  - Modify policy: chage -m <mindays> -M <maxdays> -E <expiredate> -W <warndays> jdoe
Default values:
- /etc/login.defs
- /etc/default/useradd
- /etc/skel
Viewing account details
- /etc/passwd
  - Defines accounts
  - User ID
  - UIDs typically start at 500
  - Users/Groups can share an ID (not ideal)
- /etc/shadow
Getting information
- sudo getent passwd <user>
- sudo getent shadow <user>