Adding a New User

Adding a new user to Bodhi is quite an easy task. If you have worked in Linux before and have used the command “useradd” I discourage it in Bodhi. Bodhi seems to work best with the “adduser” command.

If you simply wish to add a user that can log in to your Bodhi installation, do the following:

sudo adduser [username]

..where [username] is the name you wish for the new user's login.

It will automatically add a “home” folder as in ”/home/[username]” so you don't need any extra options. It will ask for a password for your new user and have you repeat it so there is no mistake. It will then ask for other personal information which you can add or disregard as is your preference.

That's it!

If your new user is going to need to run sudo commands (to install software for example) you need to make one further adjustment: add them to the sudo group.

As a user who already has sudo privileges run the command:

sudo adduser [username] sudo

Replacing [username] with the actual user name.

If you don't want your new user to be able to run commands as 'sudo' but you would like them to be able to do things like shutdown, reboot, and read log files for example, add them to the 'adm' group.

As a user who already has sudo privileges run the command:

sudo adduser [username] adm

Replacing [username] with the actual user name.

Our illustrious forum user “Rob” suggests that you may wish to look at the –help files, man files or the info files to learn more about the use of this command.

in your terminal, type:

adduser --help

..or

man adduser

..or

info adduser

I think that's a great idea and it will teach you so much more about the great world of Linux and the commands that can make your computer time more productive.

Have fun!

If you would like to comment or make further suggestions, please leave a note on our Comments page (you will have to Create an Account if you haven't already).

Original wiki by Martin Thompson February 27, 2011