5.1 Managing User Accounts
YaST offers to create, modify, delete or temporarily disable user
accounts. Do not modify user accounts unless you are an experienced user and
know about the implications.
WARNING: Changing User IDs of Existing Users
After a user ID change, the user will no longer own the files he
formerly created in the file system other since file ownership is bound to
the user ID, not to the user name. Only the files in the user's home
directory are automatically adjusted to reflect this change.
In the following, learn how to set up default user accounts. For some special options, such
as auto login, login without password, setting up encrypted home directories or managing quotas
for users and groups, refer to Section 5.2, Special Options.
Adding or Modifying User Accounts
-
Open the YaST
dialog in the view.
-
With define the set of users you want to
manage. The dialog shows a list of users in the system and the groups the
users belong to.
-
To modify options for an existing user, select an entry and click
.
-
Click to create a new user account.
-
Enter the appropriate user data on the first tab, such as
(which is used for login) and
. This data is sufficient to create a new user.
If you click now, the system will automatically
assign a user ID and set all other values according to the default.
-
If you want to adjust further details such as the user ID or the path
to the user's home directory, do so on the tab.
If you need to relocate the home directory of an existing user, enter
the path to the new home directory there and move the contents of the
current home directory with .
Otherwise a new home directory is created without any of the existing data.
-
To force users to regularly change their password or set other
password options, switch to and adjust
the options.
-
If all options are set according to your wishes, click
.
-
Click to save all changes without exiting the administration
dialog. Or click to close the administration
dialog and to save the changes. A newly added user can now log in to the
system using the login name and password you created.
HINT: Matching User IDs
For a new (local) user on a laptop which should also integrate in a
network environment where this user already has a user ID, it is useful to
match the (local) user ID to the ID in the network. This ensures that the
file ownership of the files the user creates offline
is the
same as if he created them directly on the network.
Disabling or Deleting User Accounts
-
To temporarily disable a user account without deleting it, select the
user from the list and click . Activate
. The user cannot log in to your
machine until you enable the account again.
-
To delete a user account, select the user from the list and click
. Choose if you also want to delete the user's
home directory or if you want to retain the data.
Assigning Users to Groups
Local users are assigned to several groups according to the default
settings which you can access from the dialog by clicking . To adjust the group assignment for a user, proceed as
follows:
-
Open the dialog in
YaST. It shows a list of users and of the groups the users belong
to.
-
Click and switch to the
tab.
-
To change the primary group the user belongs to, click
and select the group from the
list.
-
To assign the user to additional secondary groups, activate the
corresponding check boxes on the right.
-
Click to apply your changes.
-
Click to save all changes without exiting the administration
dialog. Or click to close the administration
dialog and to save the changes.
