When I switch to new user, I am unable to see the name in the prompt - Why?

Question

I have just created a fresh installation of Ubuntu 12.10

I have created a www-data user account.

When I switch to www-data, I cannot see www-data at the front of the prompt.

1. What is the technical name to call that part of the prompt?
2. How can I make it appear for www-data?

See this for reference.

As you can see, root has this. But not www-data

Answer 1

1. I believe just 'the prompt'.
2. Copy root's ~/.bashrc file to www-data's ~/.bashrc file.

In other words: (run in root) cp ~/.bashrc /home/www-data/.bashrc assuming /home/www-data is www-data's home folder, which it is. Then just restart. (Actually, you only need to kill bash, but just restart anyway)

Answer 2

I found the solution here

but i will explain the exact steps I used.

first at root i did a

echo $SHELL

I saw that I have /bin/bash

then i switch to www-data

sudo su www-data

then i do a

echo $SHELL

I saw that I had

/bin/sh

instead.

So I did a

chsh -s /bin/bash

I was prompted for my www-data password so I gave it.

Password:

after that I switch back to root

exit

then i log back into www-data

sudo su www-data

I checked the $SHELL again

echo $SHELL

I saw that now it is

/bin/bash

and also my prompt is back