Arch Linux User Groups - ryzendew/Linux-Tips-and-Tricks GitHub Wiki

Arch Linux User and Groups Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to user and group management on Arch Linux, including creating users, managing groups, permissions, and user administration.

Table of Contents

  1. User Management
  2. Group Management
  3. Permissions
  4. User Administration

User Management

Create User

Add user:

# Create user
sudo useradd -m -G wheel username

# Set password
sudo passwd username

Modify User

Modify user:

# Change shell
sudo usermod -s /bin/zsh username

# Add to group
sudo usermod -aG group-name username

# Lock account
sudo usermod -L username

# Unlock account
sudo usermod -U username

Delete User

Remove user:

# Remove user
sudo userdel username

# Remove with home
sudo userdel -r username

Group Management

Create Group

Add group:

# Create group
sudo groupadd group-name

# Add user to group
sudo usermod -aG group-name username

Common Groups

Important groups:

  • wheel: Sudo access
  • audio: Audio devices
  • video: Video devices
  • optical: Optical drives
  • storage: Storage devices
  • scanner: Scanners
  • lp: Printers

Delete Group

Remove group:

# Remove group
sudo groupdel group-name

Permissions

File Permissions

Set permissions:

# Change permissions
chmod 755 file
chmod u+x file
chmod g-w file

# Recursive
chmod -R 755 directory

Ownership

Change ownership:

# Change owner
sudo chown user:group file

# Recursive
sudo chown -R user:group directory

User Administration

User Information

Get user info:

# User info
id username

# List users
cat /etc/passwd

# List groups
cat /etc/group

Sudo Configuration

Configure sudo:

# Edit sudoers
sudo visudo

# Ensure wheel group
%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Summary

This guide covered user management, group management, permissions, and user administration.

Next Steps

This guide is based on the ArchWiki. For the most up-to-date information, always refer to the official ArchWiki.