Add a user to the sudoers file on Linux easily
If you need to add your user on a Linux system to the /etc/sudoers file, this is how to do it properly.
I am adding a new UNIX user to my system. This user will have sudo access.
jason@darkstar:~$ sudo adduser adler Adding user `adler' ... Adding new group `adler' (1002) ... Adding new user `adler' (1002) with group `adler' ... Creating home directory `/home/adler' ... Copying files from `/etc/skel' ... Enter new UNIX password: Retype new UNIX password: passwd: password updated successfully Changing the user information for adler Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default Full Name []: UNIX User. Room Number []: 101100001010 Work Phone []: Home Phone []: Other []: Is the information correct? [Y/n] Y |
Then we add the user adler to the sudoers file. Use the visudo command for this task.
jason@darkstar:~$ sudo visudo |
Then add the adler user to the file and save.
# # This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root. # # Please consider adding local content in /etc/sudoers.d/ instead of # directly modifying this file. # # See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file. # Defaults env_reset Defaults mail_badpass Defaults secure_path="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin" # Host alias specification # User alias specification # Cmnd alias specification # User privilege specification root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL # Members of the admin group may gain root privileges %admin ALL=(ALL) ALL # Allow members of group sudo to execute any command %sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL adler ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL # See sudoers(5) for more information on "#include" directives: #includedir /etc/sudoers.d |
This will add the user adler to the /etc/sudoers file and then he will be able to execute commands after entering his password.
That is how easy this is. Remember to NEVER edit the /etc/sudoers file directly. Always use the visudo command.
There is more information on the /etc/sudoers file here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Sudoers.