no ****ing way! this is too much, i am really annoyed now
 

ok, so maybe this page i was looking at was just blatantly lieing, but it gave me the impression that to add a user you type useradd [options] [username]

so i typed, as root

useradd -gusers -pmypassword -d/home/Richard -m richard

but i cant log on.

always says password is incorrect.

so i then (admitedly stupidly) used usermod. i wanted to change the root password so that it wasnt just auto login, to make it more secure.

usermod -prootpassword root

now guess what? i cant login as root either!!!!

have i just broken everything? what the **** is up with this? i have never had any problems command line administrating stuff before

help!

To change the password of a user you use
command
Type for more details

hmmm so i found out. i had to boot up a live ubuntu cd and delete the password from /etc/shadow

Just to explain why you was unlucky with "useradd -p mypassword":
the "-p" argument expects a _encrypted_ password, not a plain password.
You can get this encrypted password with "mkpasswd" command and uses the result as argument to "-p".

cheers,

just use adduser, instead

soule

@ marozsas

yeah i noticed that as i was deleting it from the shadow file

This was a really really awful thread title. Try not to repeat the mistake. Having a correctly descriptive thread title helps our members to identify your thread and to know if they wish to post in it. It also makes it easier for people to search for this problem.