One of the greatest things about PCs, Macs, and ChromeOS devices is that they can be used by multiple users. The same also applies to Linux laptops and devices and to great distributions such as the ever-popular Ubuntu. You can add multiple accounts for different users, like a sibling, a parent, or colleague. You might even want to create a regular user and an administrative user. Thankfully, this is very easy, and you can do it through the graphical user interface (GUI) or the terminal.

For the GUI method, we're using Ubuntu, but the basics also apply to other Linux distros. All Linux distros use the same terminal commands for new users.

How to add a new user to Linux through the GUI

To add a new user on Linux using the GUI, you'll have to head into your distro's settings app. From there, you'll navigate to the users section and change a few settings.

  1. Right-click on the desktop and choose Settings.
  2. In the sidebar, look for a Users option.
  3. If needed, unlock the settings app by clicking unlock and entering your password.
  4. Click on the Add user button.
  5. Choose an account type, either Standard or Administrator.
  6. Fill out the information about the user, such as the name and the username for the home folder.
  7. You can also add a password or choose the option for users to add their own passwords when they log in.
  8. When finished, click Add.

That's it! You've successfully created a new user. You can sign out of your main account and have this user log in anytime from the lock screen.

How to add a new user to Linux through the terminal

More technical folks with experience using Linux's terminal can also use it to add new users. Just launch a terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T. From there, you can follow the commands we mention below. In our example, we're making a username called jane. You can replace jane with the actual username you want.

  1. To add a user and a home directory for the user, use the command: 
    sudo useradd jane
  2. If prompted, add your password.
  3. If you want to add a user without a directory, use the following command: 
    sudo useradd -M jane
  4. If you created one, check for the directory with the command: 
    ls -lah /home/jane
  5. You can confirm that a user was added with the command: 
    sudo id jane
  6. If everything was successful, you should see something like below.
  7. You can add a password for this newly added account with the command: 
    sudo passwd jane
  8. Enter a password for the account.
  9. If you want, you can also grant the user administrative privileges. To do this, use the command: 
    sudo usermod -aG sudo jane

That's it! You've just added a new user to Linux by using the terminal.

Advanced tips

Those were the basics of adding a username on Linux. We do have some other tips for using the terminal, though. You can also create a system user with the command sudo useradd -r john, replacing john with the actual user. You also can create a temporary user with the command sudo useradd -e <YY-MM-D> <username>. Just be sure to add the username you want.