How To Create A User With Sudo Access In Linux

We are used to logging into the administrator account in Windows and using different things directly as an administrator.

In Windows, User Access Control (UAC) was implemented because remaining logged in as an administrator presented a very simple security danger. With UAC, most programs run with restricted access, and Windows only prompts the user to ask for permission when a system file needs to be changed.

In Linux systems, we can run administrative applications by using the "sudo" command. It allows us to run a program as the root user. If you frequently use root as your user, you will be exposed to the risk of giving your device full access to malicious programs.

There are two options to add a user to the sudoers. One way is by doing it manually and the other is by using the usermod command.

Adding sudo User Manually

Follow the below-given guidelines to add user to sudo user on Ubuntu 20.04:

Create a New User

Open the root user terminal and run the following command:

$ sudo adduser <username>

Here, I am using the linuxuser3 as username:

$D:\Aqsa\16 march\How to add user to sudoers on Ubuntu 20\images\image3 final.png$

It will ask you to assign a password to the new user. You also need to add some additional information like full name, room number, etc. It will confirm that the information is correct or not. Press "Y" to confirm.

A new user will be created successfully.

Update Your System Using New User

Moving forward, switch to the new user by entering the username and password on the login screen. Open a terminal and update your system using the following command:

We did not give any privilege to the new user, and we will get a message that the new user is not in the sudoers file.

$D:\Aqsa\16 march\How to add user to sudoers on Ubuntu 20\images\image5 final.png$

We need to add a user to the sudoers file.

Open the visudo file in the text editor using the following command:

$D:\Aqsa\16 march\How to add user to sudoers on Ubuntu 20\images\image4 final.png$

The position where you see root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL is where we're going to change our username. Replace the root with "linuxuser 3" with the sudoers in my case. Insert the following lines in this file:

Root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Linuxuser3 ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

$D:\Aqsa\16 march\How to add user to sudoers on Ubuntu 20\images\image7 final.png$

Again, update your system. Now, linuxuser3 is capable to perform the sudo related actions or operations.

$D:\Aqsa\16 march\How to add user to sudoers on Ubuntu 20\images\image6 final.png$

Adding Sudo User from Usermod Command

The usermod command enables us to add/edit the user groups.

Type the below-given command in terminal to add a user in sudoers:

$ sudo usermod –a –G sudo linuxuser3

$D:\Aqsa\16 march\How to add user to sudoers on Ubuntu 20\images\image2 final.png$

-a: This modifies the changes to the current configuration
-G: The name of the user's community that should be appended to.
<username>: The user's username needs to be changed.

When the user logs in the first time after being added into a new group, we will get a message that shows that the user privileges are changed.

$D:\Aqsa\16 march\How to add user to sudoers on Ubuntu 20\images\image1 final.png$

Conclusion:

By using the sudo in a command, we can perform the administrative level tasks. This manual will help you add a user to sudoers in Linux. Just follow the above guidelines to add a user to the sudoers.

About the author

As a Software engineer, I am passionate to write about various IT related
articles but have deep interest in Linux. I spend most of my time reading Linux related blogs and IT related books. I want to serve the world with my writing skills.