How to create a new user

[mjcohen]

I just got a Pinebook Pro and am trying to use it. It came with absolutely no instructions, so I had to search this forum to find that user/password of root/root enabled me to login.

I now want to create a new user account (don't want to run as root when not necessary), and can not find how to do it.

So, how can I create a new user account? I am using the default OS (Debian, I guess).

Thanks

[evilbunny]

I just got a Pinebook Pro and am trying to use it. It came with absolutely no instructions, so I had to search this forum to find that user/password of root/root enabled me to login.

I now want to create a new user account (don't want to run as root when not necessary), and can not find how to do it.

So, how can I create a new user account? I am using the default OS (Debian, I guess).

Thanks

There is a rock/rock user, using this would be better than making a new one because of all the groups needed

[mjcohen]

I just got a Pinebook Pro and am trying to use it. It came with absolutely no instructions, so I had to search this forum to find that user/password of root/root enabled me to login.

I now want to create a new user account (don't want to run as root when not necessary), and can not find how to do it.

So, how can I create a new user account? I am using the default OS (Debian, I guess).

Thanks

There is a rock/rock user, using this would be better than making a new one because of all the groups needed

I don't understand. I don't even know what a "rock/rock" user is.

On other versions of Linux I have used, there is a utility to create a new user. Is there one here?

[evilbunny]

I don't understand. I don't even know what a "rock/rock" user is.

On other versions of Linux I have used, there is a utility to create a new user. Is there one here?

Username: rock
password: rock

Yes you can create a new user account, but for it to be properly functional you need that user to be in various groups.

[danielt]

A simple set of instructions to rename the normal user and change both of the factory default passwords is:

* Reboot (this is just to ensure all background processes belong to the user are not running... there are other ways to achieve this but this way is easy)
* Once the machine reboots press Alt-Ctrl-F1 to being up a text terminal
* Login as root. login: root password: root
* Set a strong password for the root user: passwd (and follow prompts)
* Rename the rock user to your prefered username (replace myself with whatever you like): usermod -l myself -d /home/myself -m rock
* Rename the rock group to match your preferred username: groupmod -n myself rock
* Set a strong password for the normal user: passwd myself
* Log out of the text termainl: logout
* Press Alt-Ctrl-F7 to go back to the login screen and then login as the normal user

[gfoot]

One more thing after all that - you might also want to run "sudo chfn myself" to change your user's Full Name to something sensible.

[Arwen]

A simple set of instructions to rename the normal user and change both of the factory default passwords is:

* Reboot (this is just to ensure all background processes belong to the user are not running... there are other ways to achieve this but this way is easy)
* Once the machine reboots press Alt-Ctrl-F1 to being up a text terminal
* Login as root. login: root password: root
* Set a strong password for the root user: passwd (and follow prompts)
* Rename the rock user to your prefered username (replace myself with whatever you like): usermod -l myself -d /home/myself -m rock
* Rename the rock group to match your preferred username: groupmod -n myself rock
* Set a strong password for the normal user: passwd myself
* Log out of the text termainl: logout
* Press Alt-Ctrl-F7 to go back to the login screen and then login as the normal user

Perfect. I had forgotten some Linux users are not familar with Unix commands. As time permits, I will add this to the wiki, (unless you want to do it).

Plus, I'll add @gfoot's addition.

Edit: New Wiki section has been added;

Wiki - Pinebook Pro - Initial user changes, password, name, etc...

As usual, feel free to correct, improve or comment, (good or politely bad).

[kingannoy]

I really appreciate the clear instructions given here!

I just noticed that they have been added to the wiki, but there are now two sets of instructions on the wiki, first here:
https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebo..._Downloads
These instructions are far less complete, they don't even change the home folder into the name of your user...

Then there are the instructions from this post further down:
https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebo...ame.2C_etc...
I'll follow the second set of instructions now and see how far I get with those.

Besides this I am really curious how to create a new user from scratch, say you want to give a second person access to your laptop under a different account, or you want to create a guest account. I can't be that complex right?

Thanks for the awesome community support!

[kingannoy]

(wish I could edit my previous post, but I guess I don't have rights for that yet)

It seems my previous questions has suddenly become more relevant. I somehow borked the simple steps listed above. (a combination of first performing the incomplete steps on the wiki, reverting them, making my own new user whilst in the train without internet to guide me, abandoning that and following the correct steps from this post, somewhere along there I messed up). 

I can now log in on the CLI as `myself` but when I try this on the GUI login prompt the screen turns black, I wait a few seconds and get dumped back to the login screen without a error or anything. Fixed! At some point I deleted the `myself` home folder and recreated it as root so it was still owned by the root user, all I still had to do was:
`chown myself:myself /home/myself`

Now logging in for this user works!

[ColoBill]

A simple set of instructions to rename the normal user and change both of the factory default passwords is:

I keep notes on everything I've done to setup and personalize my PBP.  Here are my notes on your issue:

Change the default user rock:rock to NEWNAME:NEWNAME, passwords, etc.

   Log in as root,root and open a terminal
   $ passwd root                         # Give root a strong password
   $ usermod -l NEWNAME rock             # Change the rock user to NEWNAME
   $ groupmod -n NEWNAME rock            # Change the rock group to NEWNAME
   $ usermod -d /home/NEWNAME -m         # Move rock's directory to NEWNAME
   $ password NEWNAME                    # Change NEWNAME's password
     Enter new UNIX password: NEWPASS
   $ chfn NEWNAME                        # Change NEWNAME's fullname
   Log out of root

Log back in under your NEWNAME with old password

   # Fix login error: "Configured directory for incoming files does not exist"
   $ blueman-services
      Select "Transfer" tab and set "Incoming Folder" to NEWNAME