how to rename a username?

ceci2 · 11-09-2009, 12:59 PM

Hi.

I accidently created an account with the wrong username. I need to change it to something else.

I never done this before but I think you can issue this command "usermod -l login-name old-name" which only changes the username nothing else.

I know I will also need to change the home directory to reflect the changes but I am not sure what to do.

THank you

Ceci

pixellany · 11-09-2009, 01:13 PM

The man page for usermod says:

Quote:

-l, --login NEW_LOGIN
The name of the user will be changed from LOGIN to NEW_LOGIN.
Nothing else is changed. In particular, the user's home directory
name should probably be changed manually to reflect the new login
name.

So, after running that command simply re-name the directory in /home:

Code:

su      ## to become root
cd /home
mv oldname newname

ceci2 · 11-09-2009, 02:25 PM

that works, thank you!

I suppose deleting an account is the same process

"/usr/sbin/userdel -r baduser"

which removes everything. Correct?

Thank you so much.

Cec

pixellany · 11-09-2009, 02:32 PM

correct...

ceci2 · 11-09-2009, 02:43 PM

thank you!