What I Wanted to Do

Add a non-root user to a VPS. Working as root is a security risk, so creating a regular user is best practice.

Add a User

useradd -m username       # Create user with home directory
passwd username           # Set password

Add User to sudo Group

usermod -aG sudo username

Check Users

cat /etc/passwd           # List all users
id username               # Check user ID
groups username           # Check group membership

Delete a User

userdel username          # Delete user
userdel -r username       # Delete user and home directory

Key Points

  • Without -m, no home directory is created
  • User must be in the sudo group to use sudo
  • Always create a sudo user before disabling root login

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