Home directory not being created

Question

I am trying to understand system administration on Ubuntu. So, as an example, I create a dummy user using

sudo useradd -d /home/linda linda

and passwd to create the password. I check that an entry has been made using cat /etc/passwd

linda:x:1004:1004::/home/linda:/bin/sh

However, when I su - linda, I get

No directory, logging in with HOME=/

and indeed, no home directory has been created. What am I missing?

Thanks.

score 159 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 16 '22 at 05:45

man useradd states:

useradd is a low level utility for adding users. On Debian,
administrators should usually use adduser(8) instead.

Note the low level utility

To add a user, use adduser instead. It's a more high-level utility.

Moreover, looking at the -d option:

   -d, --home HOME_DIR
       The new user will be created using HOME_DIR as the value for the
       user's login directory. The default is to append the LOGIN name to
       BASE_DIR and use that as the login directory name. The directory
       HOME_DIR does not have to exist but will not be created if it is
       missing.

The directory will not be created if it is missing.

Generally, keep away from useradd, use adduser instead.

score 56 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 10 '13 at 11:10

56

you can fix this simply by creating the home dir.

mkdir /home/linda
chown linda:linda /home/linda

try logging in again and this should work.

answered Nov 10 '13 at 11:10

OmPS

789

score 30 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

According with man useradd, -d /home/linda option will not create the directory /home/linda, if this is missing. So, you have to create it manually. To do this, run the followings commands in terminal:

sudo -i                            #to get root privileges
mkdir /home/linda                  #to create the directory /home/linda
cp -rT /etc/skel /home/linda         #to populate /home/linda with default files and folders
chown -R linda:linda /home/linda   #to change the owner of /home/linda to user linda

See also: How to make user home folder after account creation?

p1100i · Answer 4 · 2017-10-19T15:18:35.310

17

Use -m instead of -d, so the directory will be created for you:

sudo useradd -m linda

Also, if linda is a normal user, you might want her to use /bin/bash as default shell:

sudo useradd -m linda -s /bin/bash

edited Oct 19 '17 at 15:18

answered Dec 21 '16 at 11:13

p1100i

271
2
5

score 14 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 10 '15 at 18:43

14

Look at /etc/defaults/useradd if you want to change the defaults. Use:

useradd -m -d /home/joe -s /bin/bash.

edited Jan 10 '15 at 18:43

Luís de Sousa

13,500

answered Jan 10 '15 at 16:32

beanhead

141

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 13 '13 at 20:10

You can also modify /etc/pam.d/common-session to make it so that a user's home directory will be created on first log in. Add the following line to that file.

...
session required pam_mkhomedir.so

This is particularly useful if your system is on a network where the users are managed externally to your machine, by LDAP for instance.

score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 08 '15 at 08:21

3

Add the below entry in /etc/login.defs and save:

CREATE_HOME yes

Now, try to create user accounts. It will create the home directory.

edited Jun 08 '15 at 08:21

David Foerster

36,890
56
97
151

answered Jun 08 '15 at 06:43

kavin

31

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Oct 26 '21 at 21:30

2

useradd command doesn't create a home directory automatically, regardless of the default settings in /etc/login. You have to specify the -m option if you want a home directory for a system account to be created.

edited Oct 26 '21 at 21:30

Yassine Sedrani

103

answered Apr 06 '21 at 15:42

Dragos Andrei

21
3

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Sep 17 '16 at 07:51

2

If /home/linda is not present before you add linda as a user, you also would have to add --create-home.

sudo useradd --create-home linda

edited Sep 17 '16 at 07:51

Thomas

6,433

answered Sep 17 '16 at 06:21

Abel Tom

651

randominstanceOfLivingThing · Answer 10 · 2017-12-17T19:31:47.460

The most likely reason why you did not have the home directory created is because you did not have the CREATE_HOME yes in /etc/login.defs.

You can fix this by following what @OmPS or @Radu Rădeanu had suggested.

But that many ways to overcome this problem in future by using one of the commands below:

Result of sudo adduser linda

Adding user 'linda'
Adding new group 'linda' (1001) ...
Adding new user 'linda' (1001) with group 'linda' ...
Creating home directory '/home/linda' ...
Copying files from '/etc/skel' ...
****Password confirmation****
****Name prompt****

The defaults for adduser are chosen from /etc/adduser.conf if --home option is not specified. Note that it also copies the /etc/skel contents.

Use adduser with --home
```
sudo adduser --home /home/linda
```

Same as previous option except that you may want this if the users home directory is different than the username that you assigned.

Specify base directory to useradd command:
```
sudo useradd -b /home
```
Use login.defs: Modify /etc/login.defs and add the line below before doing sudo useradd:
```
CREATE_HOME   yes
```

Note: if you do man login.defs, it currently says

Much of the functionality that used to be provided by the shadow password suite is now handled by PAM. Thus, /etc/login.defs is no longer used by passwd(1), or less used by login(1), and su(1). Please refer to the corresponding PAM configuration files instead.

Use pam_mkhomedir PAM module: from man pam_mkhomedir page, add the line below to /etc/pam.d/login:
```
session  required  pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel
```

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Nov 10 '13 at 11:05

Use adduser.

DESCRIPTION

 adduser  and  addgroup  add users and groups to the system according to
   command    line    options    and    configuration    information    in
   /etc/adduser.conf.   They  are  friendlier  front ends to the low level
   tools like useradd, groupadd and usermod programs, by default  choosing
   Debian  policy conformant UID and GID values, creating a home directory
   with skeletal configuration, running a custom script,  and  other  fea‐
   tures.  adduser and addgroup can be run in one of five modes:

useradd you have to add all options yourself. Including permissions and some other things.adduser does this based on sane defaults (and also adds home dir by itself).

If you need to use adduser you probably need the -b option together with the -d option!

Home directory not being created

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