Adding new user in Linux

Question

I created a new user in Linux using

useradd connectweb

and I see the following in the /etc/passwd file

connectweb:x:1002:1002::/home/connectweb:/bin/sh

but when I try to navigate to the folder /home/connectweb, the folder does not exist../home is available but /home/connectweb is not available.

Answer 1

Just follow the command below to resolve your case

1. execute this command to add directory

   mkdir -p /home/connectweb
   

2. in case of need copy files from /etc/skel directory to have .bashrc and so on files

3. change ownership of this directory

   chown -R connectweb:connectweb /home/connectweb
   

4. if you want to increase a little bit the security change the permissions

   chmod 700 /home/connectweb
   

In the future you can use the -m option to useradd to do the above for you.

Answer 2

As with all commands, read the man page if they show a undesired behavior.

Here man useradd says:

   -m, --create-home
       Create the user's home directory if it does not exist. The files and
       directories contained in the skeleton directory (which can be defined with
       the -k option) will be copied to the home directory.

       By default, if this option is not specified and CREATE_HOME is not enabled,
       no home directories are created.

Either remove the user again and recreate him with the -m option or create the home directory manually.

Answer 3

I think the OP is concerned about why did not the useradd command create the home directory.

The CREATE_HOME directive in the /etc/login.defs file decides whether the useradd command should create the home directory by default (without having to use the -m option) or not. If it is commented out or set to NO, only then you will have to explicity use the -m option for the useradd command to create the home directory.

[root@server ~]# grep CREATE /etc/login.defs
CREATE_HOME    yes
[root@server ~]#

If CREATE_HOME is set to yes, then the useradd command will create the home directory in the path mentioned in the /etc/default/useradd file.