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useradd — create a user

cheat sheet · Ubuntu 24.04 · shadow 4.13 https://lab.dimsanych.ru/en/wiki/useradd/

Cheat sheet

sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash alice with a home directory and bash
sudo passwd alice the password — a separate step
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash -G sudo bob straight into sudo group
sudo useradd -m -c 'Alice Smith' alice with a full name
sudo useradd -m -u 1500 carol with a given UID
sudo useradd -m -e 2026-12-31 intern the account expires that day
sudo useradd -r -s /usr/sbin/nologin -M app a system user
id alice check the result
useradd -D the defaults
sudo adduser dave interactive (Debian/Ubuntu)

Options

Defaults live in /etc/default/useradd and /etc/login.defs; see them with useradd -D. Full list — man useradd.