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 or administrator.

	Changing User IDs of Existing Users
File ownership is bound to the user ID, not to the user name. After a user ID change, the files in the user's home directory are automatically adjusted to reflect this change. However, after an ID change, the user no longer owns the files he created elsewhere in the file system unless the file ownership for those files are manually modified.

In the following, learn how to set up default user accounts. For some further options, such as auto login, login without password, setting up encrypted home directories or managing quotas for users and groups, refer to Section 8.3.5, “Managing Quotas”.

Procedure 8.1. Adding or Modifying User Accounts

Open the YaST User and Group Administration dialog and click the Users tab.
With Set Filter 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 Edit.
To create a new user account, click Add.
Enter the appropriate user data on the first tab, such as Username (which is used for login) and Password. This data is sufficient to create a new user. If you click OK now, the system will automatically assign a user ID and set all other values according to the default.
Activate Receive System Mail if you want any kind of system notifications to be delivered to this user's mailbox. This creates a mail alias for root and the user can read the system mail without having to first log in as root.
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 Details 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 Move to New Location. 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 Password Settings and adjust the options.
If all options are set according to your wishes, click OK.
Click Expert Options+Write Changes Now to save all changes without exiting the User and Group Administration dialog. Or click Finish 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.

	Matching User IDs
For a new (local) user on a laptop which also needs to integrate into 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 had created them directly on the network.

Procedure 8.2. Disabling or Deleting User Accounts

Open the YaST User and Group Administration dialog and click the Users tab.
To temporarily disable a user account without deleting it, select the user from the list and click Edit. Activate Disable User Login. The user cannot log into your machine until you enable the account again.
To delete a user account, select the user from the list and click Delete. Choose if you also want to delete the user's home directory or if you want to retain the data.