Add A Sudo User

Before We Get Started

Depending on if you are using the root account or not, you may need to prefix all commands with sudo. For example, adduser <USERNAME> becomes sudo adduser <USERNAME>

Debian / Ubuntu

Adding the user

adduser <USERNAME>

The adduser command is a utility for adding users to a system. It’s a more user-friendly alternative to the useradd command, and is the preferred command on some systems. When you run adduser, it will prompt you to enter a password and other information such as the full name of the user, room number, work phone, home phone, and other details. These details are optional and can be skipped if they’re not needed.

The <USERNAME> in the command should be replaced with the username for the new user. For example, if you wanted to create a new user named admin, you would replace <USERNAME> with admin.

So, if you were to run adduser admin in the terminal, it would start the process to create a new user named admin, and prompt you to enter a password and other optional details for the user.

Maing them sudo

usermod -aG sudo <USERNAME>

The usermod command is a utility for modifying user accounts. The -aG option tells usermod to add the user to the supplementary group(s) specified. In this case, the group is sudo.

The <USERNAME> in the command should be replaced with the username of the user you want to add to the sudo group. For example, if you wanted to add a user named admin to the sudo group, you would replace <USERNAME> with admin.

Arch

Adding the admin user

useradd -m -g users -G wheel <USERNAME>

The useradd command is a low-level utility for adding users to a system. Here’s what each part of the command does:

-m: This option tells useradd to create a home directory for the new user. The location of the home directory will depend on your system’s configuration, but it’s typically a directory with the same name as the user in the /home directory.
-g users: This sets the new user’s primary group to users. A group is a way of organizing users that can be used to control their access to files.
-G wheel: This adds the new user to the wheel group in addition to their primary group. On many systems, members of the wheel group are allowed to use the sudo command to perform actions as the root user.
<USERNAME>: This should be replaced with the username for the new user. For example, if you wanted to create a new user named admin, you would replace with admin. So, if you were to run useradd -m -g users -G wheel admin in the terminal, it would create a new user named admin, create a home directory for them, set their primary group to users, and add them to the wheel group.

All

Adding an ssh key

ssh-copy-id -i /path/to/public/key user@remote_server

Here’s a breakdown of the command:

ssh-copy-id: This is a command-line utility that’s included with many Unix-like operating systems. It’s used to install your public key in a remote machine’s authorized keys.

-i /path/to/public/key: The -i option tells ssh-copy-id to use the public key located at /path/to/public/key. You should replace /path/to/public/key with the actual path to your public key.

user@remote_server: This is the username and hostname (or IP address) of the remote server where you want to copy your public key. You should replace user with your username on the remote server, and remote_server with the hostname or IP address of the remote server.