On ubuntu, it is recommanded to do everything under a common user rather than the root user, yes even for administration tasks. This video will show you how to create a common user and give it superuser power, so that you can use this user to run commands that only root user has the permissions to run.

Command

The command is simple.

adduser billie --ingroup sudo

you will see the err:

adduser: Only root may add a user or group to the system.

this fix is adding sudo before the command

sudo adduser billie --ingroup sudo

now you need to type in password for the user billie, other infomation is optional, type Enter to skip them.

run

su billie
cd 

to go to the HOME directory of billie, and we are good to go.

Switch from root to new user

if you want to become root user

sudo su

Cmd-D to quit root and back to user billie

or you can use

su peter

to become peter. So that’s how you switch from different users.

Know More

man adduser

then you type / and search --ingroup to know more about this option.

BTW, you can use

man userdel

to find out how you can delete a user.

End

That’s the simple trick I want to share today, plz remember, you use adduser to create a new user.