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Linux User Management Guide

User Management in Linux involves creating, modifying, and controlling user accounts and their access, typically managed by an administrator with root or sudo privileges. Each user has a unique username, User ID, home directory, and login shell, while groups are collections of users that simplify permission management. Key commands for user and group management include useradd, passwd, deluser, and groupadd, with essential user information stored in files like /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow.

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9 views10 pages

Linux User Management Guide

User Management in Linux involves creating, modifying, and controlling user accounts and their access, typically managed by an administrator with root or sudo privileges. Each user has a unique username, User ID, home directory, and login shell, while groups are collections of users that simplify permission management. Key commands for user and group management include useradd, passwd, deluser, and groupadd, with essential user information stored in files like /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow.

Uploaded by

Shubham Agarwal
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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User Management in Linux

What is User Management?


What is User and Group?
What is home directory and login shell?
Common user management commands.
Files like /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/shadow.
User Management in Linux means creating, modifying, and controlling user
accounts and their access to the system. It ensures that each person or process
using the system has a unique identity (a user account).

User management is part of system administration, which means it’s usually


handled by someone with root or sudo privileges , like a Linux administrator,
DevOps engineer, or system admin.
What is a User and Group?

A User in Linux is an account that allows someone to log in and use the system.

Every user has:


A unique username
A User ID (UID)
A home directory (like /home/priya)
A login shell (like /bin/bash)

Each user can have their own files, settings, and permissions.

A Group is a collection of [Link]’s used to manage permissions for multiple users at once.
So instead of giving permissions to each user individually,you can give them to a group, and all
members inherit that access.
What is a Home directory and login shell?

The home directory is the personal working space for each user in Linux.
It’s where all your personal files, configurations, and settings are stored.

Example:
For user priya → /home/priya

The login shell is the program that runs when a user logs into Linux.
It provides the command-line interface where you type your commands.

Common shells:
/bin/bash → Most common shell (Bash shell)
/bin/sh → Basic shell
/bin/zsh → Popular modern shell (used in macOS too)
Create a user
useradd <username>
useradd -g <groupname> -s /bin/bash -m -d <home_dir> <username>

Set password
passwd <username>

Delete a user
deluser <username>
deluser --remove-home <username> - Deletes the user and also its home dir
Create a group
groupadd <groupname>

Add user to a group


usermod -aG <groupname> <username>

Removes a user from a group


gpasswd -d username groupname

Delete group
groupdel <groupname>
File where Linux stores user information.

/etc/passwd

It has 7 fields separated by colons : like this 👇


Username:Password placeholder:UserID:GroupID:Comment:Home Directory:Login Shell

Example -
priya:x:1001:1001:Priya Singh:/home/priya:/bin/bash
File where Linux stores information about all groups on the system.

/etc/group

It has 4 fields, separated by colons : like this 👇


group_name : password_placeholder : GID : users

Example -
devloper:x:1003:priya

.
File where Linux stores the encrypted passwords.

/etc/shadow

It has 8 fields, separated by colons : like this 👇


Username:Encrypted Password:Date of last password change:Min Age:Max Age:Warning Period:Inactive
Period:Expiry Date

Exmaple-
priya:$6$xyz987$askjdhf87dhfh:20000:0:99999:7:::

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