I created a user without a home directory and now I want to create a home directory for them. Not just a folder called /home/new-user, but a complete default home directory with all the normal folders and hidden files, etc.
How can I do that?
45 Answers
Use the following (as root, or with sudo if not root):
mkhomedir_helper usernameFor this to work, folder /home/username must not exist.
For X-related folders (Desktop, Downloads, etc), you will need to login in a graphics environment; they will be automatically generated the first time you login.
8The subdirectories (Documents, Downloads, etc...) are automatically created when the user first logs in through GNOME, provided that the home directory is created with the correct permissions. Here's a demonstration:
alaa@aa-lu:~$ sudo useradd testinguseralaa@aa-lu:~$ sudo passwd testinguser Enter new UNIX password: Retype new UNIX password: passwd: password updated successfullyalaa@aa-lu:~$ sudo ls -l /home total 20 drwxr-xr-x 55 alaa alaa 4096 Aug 22 22:00 alaa drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jun 5 09:46 lost+foundalaa@aa-lu:~$ sudo mkdir /home/testinguseralaa@aa-lu:~$ sudo chown testinguser:testinguser /home/testinguseralaa@aa-lu:~$ ls -l /home total 24 drwxr-xr-x 55 alaa alaa 4096 Aug 22 22:00 alaa drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jun 5 09:46 lost+found drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:03 testinguseralaa@aa-lu:~$ ls -l /home/testinguser/ total 0alaa@aa-lu:~$
You can check that the user's home directory is correctly set by checking the entry in /etc/passwd. You should, by default, see the home directory set to /home/testinguser:
alaa@aa-lu:~$ grep testinguser /etc/passwd testinguser:x:1001:1001::/home/testinguser:/bin/sh
If you don't see the home directory /home/testinguser there, you'll need to execute the command sudo usermod -d /home/testinguser testinguser to update it, although you should not need to use this command because it should be set by default (according to useradd's manpages).
I then logged out of my account, and logged back in with testinguser, and here are the subdirectories automatically created:
alaa@aa-lu:~$ ls -l /home/testinguser/ total 36 drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:05 Desktop drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:05 Documents drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:05 Downloads drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:05 Music drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:07 Pictures drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:05 Public drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:05 Templates drwxr-xr-x 2 testinguser testinguser 4096 Aug 23 10:05 Videos
I didn't need to copy the contents of /etc/skel.
If possible, can you please try following these steps, creating another new user? Once you're done, you can remove this new user by sudo deluser testinguser && sudo rm -r /home/testinguser.
If all of this did not work with you, then I'm guessing it's a bug.
5UPDATE: The solution is broken and not working for me too.
If you want to create the user's home directory if it does not exist, then run the useradd command with the -m flag. This will copy all files from the /etc/skel directory.
useradd -m usernameYou might need to configure settings for your system. According to the man page :
-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.and further indicates :
CONFIGURATION The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool: CREATE_HOME (boolean) Indicate if a home directory should be created by default for new users.If you created the new user with adduser command, you don't need to create a home directory for the new user. A home directory named with the name of the user in /home directory, with the following subdirectories: Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos (and others), for the new user will be created automatic.
If you created the new user with useradd command, then run the following commands in terminal:
sudo -i #enter your user password when you are asked
gedit /etc/passwdto edit /etc/passwd file as root (this is the most important step). Find the line with the name of the new user and set the default home directory for him something like this:
new_username:x:1001:1001::/home/new_username:/bin/shAt this line you can also to add a real name for the new user, or set the default shell. Something like this:
new_username:x:1001:1001:Real New Username,,,:/home/new_username:/bin/bashBe careful, don't make any other changes.
After you save the file, before to go out from the root account, run the following commands:
mkdir /home/new_username #to create the directory /home/new_username
cp -r /etc/skel/. /home/new_username #to copy skeleton files to /home/new_username
chown -R new_username:new_username /home/new_username #to change the owner of /home/new_username to the new userAfter all of these the home folder for the new user will automatically be populated after first login.
See also: How to make user home folder after account creation?
7All you need realy is the home folder to make it work. As root,
cd /home
cd mkdir username
chown username username
chgrp username usernameLogging in with the first time should create all necessary files, that seems to be those:
drwxr-xr-x 16 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:46 .
drwxr-xr-x 9 root root 4096 Jun 4 17:43 ..
drwx------ 11 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:46 .cache
drwx------ 13 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:46 .config
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Downloads
drwx------ 3 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:46 .gconf
drwxrwxr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:46 .gstreamer-0.10
-rw------- 1 fotanus fotanus 334 Jun 4 17:45 .ICEauthority
drwxr-xr-x 3 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 .local
drwx------ 4 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Music
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Public
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Templates
drwxr-xr-x 2 fotanus fotanus 4096 Jun 4 17:45 Videos
-rw------- 1 fotanus fotanus 55 Jun 4 17:45 .Xauthority
-rw------- 1 fotanus fotanus 711 Jun 4 17:45 .xsession-errors
