For questions related to users, user accounts, user permissions or guest accounts.
5
votes
1answer
2k views
How to harden a ubuntu desktop?
We are planning to install 80 ubuntu desktops in a college. The management told us to harden the ubuntu desktop as much as possible, like the user should not able to customize system settings for ...
0
votes
0answers
10 views
Could not update ICEauthority file since upgrading
Since upgrading my laptop to Ubuntu 13.04, my login fails with the above message. I have tried:
sudo chown ls user:user /home/user
chmode 600 /home/user/.ICEauthority
What else can I try to fix ...
3
votes
1answer
74 views
How to enable or disabled a user?
I'm uing ubuntu 12.04 desktop. I have 3 users: user1(administrator), user2(standard) and guest. I wanted to disable user1 and enable user2 which auto logs on with no password but after I did that I ...
5
votes
1answer
367 views
Multiple Dropbox accounts on the same computer
Has anyone tried running multiple Dropbox accounts on one computer? What I would like is for every user to have their own Dropbox account/folder. On the Dropbox Help Center they write:
For our ...
16
votes
6answers
13k views
How to enable root login?
I would like to enable the root account on my Ubuntu installation.
I realize the security implications of this.
0
votes
1answer
17 views
Ubuntu two users logged with same name
I have a server and a ssh session, but it seems like I've pressed something and it was a shortcut so currently, when I do w it shows my other session (which I don't know how I opened). I closed my ssh ...
0
votes
0answers
13 views
howto set a user account a limited login time
I want to create a user with a limited login time. To be more clear, I want the user account to be able to login for specified time (ie. 1000 clocks), and then the account deactivates. I looked at ...
0
votes
1answer
149 views
Can't access my Ubuntu admin account
It just shows a black screen with words in it for a fraction of a second and then gets back to users screen(where you choose your user).
I tried to enter from another account and removed the password ...
0
votes
1answer
15 views
Match directive breaks SSH
On my Ubunut server 12.04 LTS machine, I try to add a user with only sFTP or FTP access.
Let's call him 'Jim' for now. Jim only needs access to a directory /var/www/example.com.
So far I've tried ...
1
vote
1answer
41 views
How does user access for full disk encryption work?
When installing Ubuntu 12.10 and higher you get an option to encrypt the entire drive (not just the home directory). What encryption mechanism is used for this, and what kind of access permissions are ...
0
votes
0answers
22 views
change settings from guest account ubuntu 13.04 [duplicate]
at first sorry, but my english is very bad.
I want to customize the settings from the guest account (Ubuntu 13.04).
I want to change the startpage in firefox and change the background from the ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
sshfs is mounting filesystems as another user
So I am trying to mount a folder from another computer in my LAN, and I am able to ssh without any issues. But, I am unable to make any changes when I access the mounted folder.
This is what I have ...
0
votes
2answers
35 views
Install Ubuntu without creating a user account
I'd like to sell an old computer of mine to a friend, and I'd like to pre-install Ubuntu. Is it possible to install the OS, but not set up a user account first? I'm expecting that it would ask the ...
54
votes
17answers
5k views
Why is it bad to run as root?
I've often come across posts on forums or other websites where you see people joking in such a manner about running/logging in as root as if it's something awful and everyone ought to know about it. ...
3
votes
2answers
107 views
Who is “user 109”?
I found out that user 109 launches pulseaudio on startup, which blocks mine:
petr@sova:~$ ps -ef | grep pulseaudio
109 1515 1 1 15:23 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start ...
7
votes
2answers
6k views
How to make user home folder after account creation?
I created a new user with useradd name and forgot to use -d -m to create their home directory. I tried making one, copying the contents of /etc/skel, and chowning everything to the new user.
...
2
votes
2answers
3k views
How to add user without useradd command?
Is it possible to add a user in ubuntu linux without useradd command I think its possible by adding the entries in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow but i don't know the exact steps to do it and the user ...
6
votes
4answers
7k views
Getting an “Authentication token manipulation” error when trying to change my user password
I am logging in to my Ubuntu Server using my username. Once I am logged in I am typing passwd command. Entering a new password but a second after getting following error messages:
passwd: ...
0
votes
1answer
179 views
Upgrade to 13.04, user picture shows up on lightdm. Can I change it?
So, I recently upgraded my Xubuntu to 13.04, and afterwards I noticed that there is now a picture of me on the lightdm login screen. I have no idea where this picture came from, I don't remember it ...
0
votes
0answers
18 views
'w' command not showing users list when not root ('who' does)
I have multiple users logged on my server (ubuntu 12.10), with ssh. None of them has root privileges.
If I then log in with my admin account and type (without sudoing)
admin1@server:~$ w
the ...
1
vote
1answer
621 views
How to provide user permission to read, write on `/dev/sdax`? What is the syntax?
I have two my hard disk divided into two partition (apart from swap).
First one is /dev/sda3 on which I have my ubuntu installation. Second one is /dev/sda1. Now, when I try to copy a file to ...
0
votes
0answers
22 views
Diff. Between Ubuntu vs Ubuntu Studio? [duplicate]
Can any one tell me the Diff. Between Ubuntu vs Ubuntu Studio ?
-2
votes
0answers
21 views
How do I get an UNANSWERED question reopened? [closed]
I keep go round and round about this. There are questions marked as duplicate where there is NO link to the ORIGINAL question.
I am not lying! I am not stupid! I CAN read! Many times questions have ...
0
votes
1answer
22 views
kde profiles for home, work movie watching etc
Is there a way to configure different KDE config modes for different profiles?
when i am watching a movie i don't want to see a screen saver or lock screen, but when working at my PC i want to start a ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
hide user from login GUI
If I add a user to hidden-users then they won't show from the GUI user login page?
thufir@dur:~$
thufir@dur:~$ cat /etc/lightdm/users.conf
#
# User accounts configuration
#
# NOTE: If you have ...
0
votes
1answer
16 views
Username Modification while Retaining Data Structure
I've tried this in the past with zero success. How do I change the /home/USER directory for a user, when I change their username, and how do I update their username without causing massive breakage?
...
1
vote
3answers
2k views
Ubuntu 12.04 installation
I thought I would try 12.04 installation on a spare laptop still running 10.04 rather than on my main laptop running on 11.10.
I installed 12.04 over rather than clean.
Fine… But I cannot login as ...
0
votes
2answers
280 views
Trying to Install Spotify but it says I need a non administrator account
When I try to install Spotify with Wine, it says I need to use a standard account. I switched my account from Administrator to standard, and restarted, but I still get the same message. Any help is ...
1
vote
1answer
17 views
Leave application running as we switch users
How can I leave Deluge Bittorrent running as different family members log into and use our Ubuntu 12.04 laptop?
This seems like it should be some sort of daemon, but of course it has a GUI, which I'd ...
0
votes
1answer
86 views
Mount bind with full ownership and permissions
I am using 12.10 on virtualbox. I have my windows documents folder shared through virtual box folder share. Then I wanted to use mount --bind to mount my documents folder to the ubuntu user documents ...
3
votes
1answer
73 views
How can I run anacron in user mode?
I would like to set up a scheduled task via anacron but I would like to do so in user mode. How can I achieve this?
0
votes
0answers
33 views
How to change administrator password? [duplicate]
At the user accounts I set the Password in the (connection options ) at none
then when I tried to unlock the user accounts it ask for a password, when I type the old one it says its wrong.
I tried to ...
1
vote
1answer
26 views
Customization: Specific DE for specific User
Is it possible to setup?
Suppose, I have two users: Home and Work.
For Home I want to use GNOME Shell or KDE a beautiful DE. (Or something else)
For Work I want to use LXDE or MATE as fastest DE. ...
0
votes
2answers
46 views
added new user no shell/ tab completing
I added a new ubuntu user with this command
useradd -d /home/newname -m newname
It seems no tab completing feature and only $ as prompt, When I logged in as root I see root@server$ as prompt.
...
1
vote
5answers
152 views
Can I set my user account to have no password?
If I attempt to change my password to nothing by opening "User Accounts", the "Change" button remains greyed out:
How do I change my password to be empty? I know you can set Ubuntu to automatically ...
0
votes
0answers
28 views
How can I define which groups new users will be added to during the installation process?
How can I add all new users to a special group?
For example 'video' or 'www-data'.
3
votes
2answers
3k views
What does Ctrl + Alt + F11 do and why can't i log into my account with unity anymore?
I was just happily typing away, trying out some android dev on my ubuntu machine, i pressed Ctrl + Alt + F11 instead of Ctrl + F11 to run the program in eclipse. This made the screen go blank with a ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
Allowing non-root access to PTP Cameras [closed]
On an 11.04 system when I insert a PTP camera it lists but it doesn't allow access to it. I have to start the photo management application (be it Shotwell or any other) with root access to be able to ...
1
vote
0answers
27 views
How can I perform the su command to switch to a network user without a password?
I have a local user and a network user (authenticated over LDAP) that I frequently use su to switch to for certain tasks. I'm wondering how I can avoid typing the password for the network user every ...
0
votes
1answer
26 views
Unable to recover admin account ubuntu 11.10
i had accidentally deleted the admin account. i am using the system from standard how to recover the administrator account which i had deleted, please do favour me in resolving this isssue.
1
vote
1answer
40 views
Vstfpd and many accounts creation: is there a howto?
I've been googling around and didn't find valuable answer.
I have 98 students. I want to create, for each student a directory where they can upload their own files.
Unless I'm wrong, it seems I'll ...
1
vote
2answers
267 views
Why can't I disable the Guest session?
I can't disable the Guest session for Ubuntu 12.04.
I tried to add allow-guest=false but it doesn't work.
Is there another way to disable it?
-2
votes
1answer
146 views
How to add a new user in Ubuntu 12.04, and how i give them a root user privileges [duplicate]
How to add a new user in Ubuntu 12.04, and how i give them a root user
privileges
18
votes
2answers
22k views
Create an administrator user in command line
I want to create a user with administrative privileges and all the regular setups like home directory.
Is there a adduser parameter to give the user sudo powers automatically?
What are the default ...
3
votes
3answers
10k views
How to create a user with root privileges in bash?
I have run the following commands:
sudo groupadd -r testgroup
sudo useradd -g testgroup -M -r testuser
Notice the -r option, which according to the man page:
-r
...
23
votes
5answers
2k views
How to NOT become a root user? Are administrators root?
I installed Ubuntu on my PC. To log in, I use the username and password I created during installation. Does this mean I am a root user? If yes, then how do I become non-root? It looks like non-root ...
2
votes
0answers
31 views
Limited access accounts for a low maintenance deployment?
Forgive me if I haven't done quite as much digging trying to solve this on my own as I could have: I'm currently in Zambia, and my internet access is unpredictible and slow when it's working.
I'm ...
2
votes
4answers
2k views
I can't su as root, my account type is admin BUT am I root? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
su command + authentication failure
i installed ubuntu successfully, but then i tried "su" on terminal and entered my password, authentication failed! and I don't think ...
0
votes
0answers
50 views
Pre-configuring default GUI session for new user
As an Ubuntu 12.10 admin, can I configure the default GUI session (the one to run if no explicit choice is made at the login screen) for a user I create from the command line?
Example of choices:
...
2
votes
1answer
31 views
User called backup1… what is it for? how to know if it's not compromised?
I was checking my /etc/passwd, when I noticed a user called backup1. What attracted my attention is the number 1 at the end. Is it ok? how can I know if this user is compromised?
Im using ubuntu ...
