Users, system administrators and passwords? These are the differences! - TUXEDO Computers

More and more computer users are switching from Windows to Linux. We often receive support requests from customers who first need to familiarise themselves with user and rights management under Linux. Therefore, in this guide we deal with the various users in Linux and its authorisation system.

Multi-user system

Linux is a multi-user system: several users can have an account on the same computer, and there are different users for different authorisation levels. There are generally two types of users under Linux: Root is the administrator, who has all rights and access to all directories in the Linux file tree. Its tasks include the administration of other users as well as app installations and system updates or the connection to other computers.

There may also be one or more users with restricted rights. They own the files and directories in their respective home directories. To gain access and execution rights in other directories or for special tasks, they need root access or must ask the administrator to complete the task.

On computers where the root and user are the same person, the root account should only be used for tasks that require its extended rights. For security reasons, all other tasks should be carried out by the unprivileged user. On multi-user systems, for example in the same household, ideally only one person should be able to obtain root rights.

Create user and password

With TUXEDO OS, the customer creates a password for his user that is as secure as possible during installation, whether from the ISO image or via WebFAI in the installer. At the same point, the customer specifies whether TUXEDO OS should start with or without a password prompt.

If you often switch between X11 and Wayland, it makes sense not to activate the automatic login without password request, as you can switch between the session types simply by clicking the mouse when logging in.

How do I create a new user account?

The easiest way to do this on the Plasma desktop is via the system settings. Click on Users in the bar on the left and fill in the form on the right. Under Account type you can specify whether you want to create an unprivileged user or a new root account. Here you can also change the password for existing accounts or delete users.

How do I obtain root rights?

In contrast to some other Linux distributions, the system administrator account root is not assigned its own password under Ubuntu and therefore also not under TUXEDO OS, so there is no classic administrator account. This is where the sudo command comes into play. It enables authorised users to execute programs or actions in the name and with the rights of another user, usually root. If the user is authorised to do so, they can perform tasks in the console that are reserved for the administrator. Important to know: If sudo asks you to enter your password, this will be entered invisibly, you will not see any input.

Sudo and Policykit

In the KDE Plasma desktop environment used by TUXEDO OS as well as under GNOME, root rights are also sometimes automatically requested for certain tasks via the authorisation service PolicyKit. For example, if you use the command

systemctl disable cups.service

to deactivate the print function without the sudo prefix, you must enter the corresponding password in the PolicyKit window that opens automatically.

Other tasks such as installing or removing software will result in an error message if they are not preceded by sudo.

After entering the password once, this is no longer necessary for the next 15 minutes when using sudo again in this terminal. Further information on using sudo can be found in the Wikipedia and elsewhere.In addition, we recommend reading the article Changed username: sudo no longer works.