Mint 18.1

System Settings>Users and Groups - added a new admin user.

Now I want to delete a previous admin user but the Delete button remains greyed out and inoperative even when that user is highlighted in the list of users.

What am I missing?

You must (I think) add the new one first, then delete 100%not-in-use old.

I'm guessing the logic is: since root has no password, there would be no way to ever do sudo if the 1&only Admin gone.

Also, logout (or reboot) and make sure old isn't owning any process!!!

Btw, what about files owned by old uid?

Maybe trick-edit /etc/{passwd,shadow,?} Be ready to rescue-boot or enable root login, just in case here

Let us know if that's it!!! Edit: maybe not: https://askubuntu.com/questions/9310...admin-accounts

OK, I restarted. Now, if I click on the new admin user I added, the Delete button becomes live and I could use it. However, when I click on the original admin user that was set up when I installed Mint 18.l, the Delete button remains greyed out and inactive.

This isn't a big deal, it's just my home computer and all I really wanted to do is change that original user's name.

what's that first admin user's name? root? because i don't think you can delete that. ever. it's just how unix-like operating systems work.

also i must say, you shouldn't mess around with these things even though mint (irresponsibly) supplies a convenient gui for it.

1 members found this post helpful.

I understand that there has to be a root, but if that root user shouldn't be deleted, can its name at least be changed? BTW, Microsoft says don't touch it but I've never heard that from Linux users.

Oh, was it literally root? VeryVERY loosely think of root as the OS itself
Jeremy is "root" of LQ; there'd be NO lq if we delete him

The Spirit of Linux seems to be pushing you to spend a bit of DDGoo time
peeking at a little /etc/passwd 1st line (root) uid 0 beginner tutorial

I don't think you mean root; please confirm.
M$ doesn't have the username "root" as far as i know.
Changing root name would be like changing linux name to puzzle.
"LinuxPuzzle is better than M$Win. What LinuxPuzzle do you prefer?"

So don't touch that.

Don't touch Puzzle? Puzzle is fun to play in Package VirtualBox!!!
MyPuzzle comes without /etc/passwd, so
pan64joe can be made uid 0, for a fun=CLIonly Vworld.
Or maybe better not... But LQsearch does find FrankenPuzzleLinux!!!

Reality bottom-line, maybe there's a bugdesign_feature in Mint/UbuGUI/?
Where orig 1st='admin' user can never be deleted, maybe cuz of its initial home files.
Like: /home/joe (pwd in a terminal) So, just create the new username, like user,
And hopefully logging-in as new user (my choice of name for 1st ...)
works like joe did, right after original initial install.
(tho having user name user or anon or myname or "something" or ... is more confusing than joe or lwe etc... Plus can't pick nobody since it is in /etc/passwd already, as a special system uid)

Additional 'concept' note: tho Admin in M$ is more like uid0Danger,
think of 'admin' in Linux as just a MUCH safer just-priv-to-sudo;
root and admin being separate concepts, makes security 'natural'!
(which is probably? a good explanation, tho I can't find simple web refs)

There's a privilege to sudo called admin, but not literally a username admin. That causes the confusion!!!

I'm afraid it is not that simple. The keyword "root" is hardcoded somewhere deep inside ....

If you deleted 'root', you wouldn't be able to use your Linux system!
It is the admin account.

Since Mint is based on Ubuntu root is disabled by default. As stated the user created during install is the "administrator" and has sudo privileges. I have never played with deleting the first admin user but did you login as the new user?

1 members found this post helpful.

You ought to download the source and grep there. But you need to download (and grep) not only the source of kernel, but the sources of all the (system) tools also which may check if that was started as root or as normal user. Probably you are right, it was not hardcoded in the kernel itself.

From the other hand you may try to install a system - probably in a VM - and rename the root user to anything else (in /etc/passwd) and sooner or later you will see the consequences.

i'd say you need to mount the .iso first. then