Remove --system 'tag' from user
 

I created a user using I now want to log into this user for the sake of testing something. I've set the password thanks to root, but how do I remove the --system bit so I can log into the user?

The "--system" switch should only affect the UID/GID assigned to the user object.

A specific UID and GID range is set aside for "system accounts" (in /etc/login.defs, I believe) and if you want to make the account a non-system account later, you'll have to change the UID of that account.

I'm able to log in interactively using a "system" account on my system as long as the account has a valid shell. The adduser script on your system may have set the shell to /bin/false or something similar. You can check this with getent passwd username.

It is also possible that a setting in PAM could prevent interactive logins for accounts with UIDs in the "system" range.

Aha! It was set to /bin/false. With a quick Google, I changed it with chsh -s /bin/bash

Thanks! Back to my other thread in a moment! ;)