How To Create and Delete Users in Ubuntu & Debian

Have you ever wondered how you can add a new user to your Ubuntu or Debian machine? Did you know that it’s possible to add a new user without using the root account? If yes, then read on. Creating users in your operating system is important. Not everyone who uses your computer should have access to all its files and folders.

This article will guide you through the process of creating and deleting user accounts in Ubuntu, Debian, and other Debian derivatives Linux machines.

How to Create a New User

For this tutorial, we are using adduser command for example.

• With default options: The following command will create a new user account named ‘rahul’ in your system.

  sudo adduser rahul
  
  Adding user `rahul' ...
  Adding new group `rahul' (1006) ...
  Adding new user `rahul' (1005) with group `rahul' ...
  Creating home directory `/home/rahul' ...
  Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
  Enter new UNIX password: **************
  Retype new UNIX password: **************
  passwd: password updated successfully
  Changing the user information for rahul
  Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
  	Full Name []:
  	Room Number []:
  	Work Phone []:
  	Home Phone []:
  	Other []:
  Is the information correct? [Y/n] y
  

• Chane home directory: By default above command will create users home directory as /home/. But you can specify the home directory at any other location using the following command.

  sudo adduser rahul --home=/var/home/rahul 
  

• Change login shell: You can also specify any other shell for user in place of default, use –shell switch followed by shell name as below.

  sudo adduser rahul --shell=/bin/bash 
  

• Without home directory: If you don’t want to create users home directory. You can use –no-create-home switch with adduser command as below.

  sudo adduser rahul --no-create-home 
  

How to Delete User from System

Now it’s good to lock or delete any user from the system who is no longer required. Use the following command to delete any user from the system.

sudo deluser rahul 

The above command will not delete the user’s home directory. If you also want to delete users’ home directory add --remove-home parameter with the command, For example below command, will delete user rahul and their home directory permanently.

sudo deluser rahul --remove-home 

You may also take a backup of the user’s home directory before deleting it using the following command.

sudo deluser rahul --remove-home --backup  --backup-to /var/archives/ 

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have discussed creating a new user account on Debian based system. Also provides you quick reference to delete existing users from Linux machines.