Arch Linux User Groups

Arch Linux User and Groups Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to user and group management on Arch Linux, including creating users, managing groups, permissions, and user administration.

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Table of Contents

1. User Management
2. Group Management
3. Permissions
4. User Administration

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User Management

Create User

Add user:

# Create user
sudo useradd -m -G wheel username

# Set password
sudo passwd username

Modify User

Modify user:

# Change shell
sudo usermod -s /bin/zsh username

# Add to group
sudo usermod -aG group-name username

# Lock account
sudo usermod -L username

# Unlock account
sudo usermod -U username

Delete User

Remove user:

# Remove user
sudo userdel username

# Remove with home
sudo userdel -r username

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Group Management

Create Group

Add group:

# Create group
sudo groupadd group-name

# Add user to group
sudo usermod -aG group-name username

Common Groups

Important groups:

• wheel: Sudo access
• audio: Audio devices
• video: Video devices
• optical: Optical drives
• storage: Storage devices
• scanner: Scanners
• lp: Printers

Delete Group

Remove group:

# Remove group
sudo groupdel group-name

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Permissions

File Permissions

Set permissions:

# Change permissions
chmod 755 file
chmod u+x file
chmod g-w file

# Recursive
chmod -R 755 directory

Ownership

Change ownership:

# Change owner
sudo chown user:group file

# Recursive
sudo chown -R user:group directory

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User Administration

User Information

Get user info:

# User info
id username

# List users
cat /etc/passwd

# List groups
cat /etc/group

Sudo Configuration

Configure sudo:

# Edit sudoers
sudo visudo

# Ensure wheel group
%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

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Summary

This guide covered user management, group management, permissions, and user administration.

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Next Steps

• Arch Linux System Configuration - System setup
• Arch Linux Security Configuration - Security
• ArchWiki User Management: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Users_and_groups

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This guide is based on the ArchWiki. For the most up-to-date information, always refer to the official ArchWiki.