How to Create a New Sudo User on Fedora Linux

Creating new sudo users on Fedora is essential for managing home and business systems. This knowledge enhances security, enables efficient administration, and ensures a smoother workflow.

• Enhanced Security: Grant administrative rights to trusted users without sharing the root password.
• Efficient User Management: Easily manage permissions and access for multiple users.
• Scalability: Seamlessly add and remove users as needed, perfect for growing businesses.
• Customization: Tailor user permissions to fit specific roles and responsibilities.
• Auditability: Track user activities and changes crucial for maintaining system integrity.

With the introduction out of the way, let’s explore how to create new sudo users on Fedora using terminal commands and various methods.

Change to Root Account

Operating as the root user is essential when managing Fedora Linux and creating new sudo users. If you didn’t set the root password during installation, this section can be skipped.

Begin by resetting the root password using the following command:

sudo passwd root

Upon executing this command, enter your current sudo account’s password first. Then, you’ll be prompted to create a new password for the root account. This step is crucial for securing root access.

Once the root password is set, switch to the root account using the su command. This step gives you full administrative access necessary for creating and managing sudo users:

su

After entering this command, you’ll be prompted to type in the new root password. Successfully doing so changes your session to operate under the root user, indicated by the change in the username display to ‘root’ instead of your regular username.

Now, with root@ in your command prompt, instead of @username, you have full administrative privileges to proceed with user management tasks on your Fedora Linux system. This elevated access is critical for the subsequent steps in creating a new sudo user.

Create a User Account on Fedora Linux

To begin setting up a new user on your Fedora Linux system, create a user account. This is achieved with the adduser command. Replace <example username> with the desired username for the new account.

For example, to create a user named ‘josh’, the command would be:

adduser josh

This command establishes a new user account named ‘josh’ on the system. It’s a critical first step in user management, allowing for personalized access and security.

Following creating the user account, it’s important to assign a secure password to the new user. Continuing with our example, to set a password for ‘josh’, use the following command:

sudo passwd josh

This command will prompt you to enter and confirm a new password for ‘josh’. This step is vital for securing the new account and ensuring that only the intended user can access it.

Add New Created User To Sudoers Group on Fedora

After creating a new user account on Fedora Linux, the next critical step is granting sudo privileges. This allows users to perform administrative tasks, enhancing their system access and capabilities. To add a user to the sudoers group, which is known as the ‘wheel’ group in Fedora, use the usermod command with the -aG options. These options append the user to the specified group.

Replace <example username> with the actual username. For instance, to add ‘josh’ to the sudoers group, the command is:

usermod -aG wheel josh

This command effectively grants ‘josh’ administrative privileges by adding him to the ‘wheel’ group.

To verify that the user has been successfully added to the sudoers group, use the id command. This command displays the user’s groups. For example, to check ‘josh’s group memberships:

id josh

This command will show you the groups to which ‘josh’ belongs, including ‘wheel’ if the previous step was successful.

Alternatively, the gpasswd command can also be used to add a user to a group. This method is equally effective and straightforward.

To add ‘josh’ to the ‘wheel’ group using gpasswd, the command is:

gpasswd -a josh wheel

Upon execution, this command will display a confirmation, such as “Adding user josh to group wheel,” indicating the user’s successful addition to the group.

Adding user josh to group wheel

Both usermod and gpasswd are reliable methods for managing group memberships in Fedora Linux, crucial for proper system administration and user access control.

Confirm New Created Sudo User on Fedora Linux

After granting sudo access to the newly created user, verifying that the account is set up correctly is crucial. This involves testing the user’s ability to execute commands with sudo privileges. To begin, switch to the new user account using the su command.

Replace <example username> with the actual username. For instance, to switch to the user ‘josh’, the command is:

su josh

Once logged in as the new user, confirm their sudo access by using the sudo command followed by whoami. This command displays the username executing the command, which should reflect the root user if sudo functions correctly.

Execute the following:

sudo whoami

Upon entering this command, you’ll be prompted to enter the password for the sudo user you’re currently logged in as. After successfully entering the password, the output should confirm that you operate with root privileges.

This step is vital to ensuring that the user has the necessary administrative rights and that the setup process is completed accurately. Properly verifying sudo access is a crucial aspect of managing user permissions securely on Fedora Linux.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In this guide, we’ve used the command-line interface to add a new user and grant them sudo privileges on Fedora Linux. These steps are fundamental for anyone working with Linux, ensuring you can confidently manage user access and administrative permissions. Regularly verifying user permissions and checking sudo access is key to maintaining your system’s security.