Agama booting from master boot record 2)adding users

[OrsoBruno]

@user11u

Because otherwise there would be more information about that.

I guess that we are starting to see such threads now that Leap 15.5 is (almost) EOL.
Many just upgraded via the migration tool, preserving /home and users.
New installs didn’t have such problems.
And many here just use Tumbleweed, which keeps rolling (fingers crossed).

[user11u]

@OrsoBruno

So for the “other computer” my plan would be:

Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation. I’ll inform you here about news. But I’ll have time for that at the end of the week.

[user11u]

@OrsoBruno

Many just upgraded via the migration tool, preserving /home and users.
New installs didn’t have such problems.

@OrsoBruno At least if nothing works, this could be the last option: reinstalling leap 156 - switching from master-boot-record for UEFI - and using the migration tool to migrate to leap 16. In order to preserve the /home and users.

[user11u]

@nrickert

My other strategy, is that the user with UID=1000 is a limited user. My normal account has UID=1001. So on a new install, I go with that limited user. I call it “Support Account” (for the full name), and “support” for the login user. I do use that occasionally as an administrative account, mostly during initial setup.

@nrickert

That seems to be my strategy for the computer I’m currently installing leap16.
You didn’t explain how you did/want to add your UID=1001 user including its /home/username directory by using your limited user (UID=1000). But I think you didn’t explain it because OrsoBruno and hcvv already told it.

[hcvv]

@user11u

And what was your path?

When you re-read my posts, you will see that until now I did NOT use the new installer. I only upgraded to 16.0 from 15.6. But I read I think all the topic that passed by in the forums and thought over what to do when time arrives.

@user11u

Kind of surprising for me that others may not continue using their existing user and /home/user. Because otherwise there would be more information about that.

There were people complaining here about that lost feature.

[hcvv]

Please take into account that people may have different environments and goals. E.g. I have a different goal then @nrickert has. For me UID 1000 is just a normal user, for him it isn’t.

[nrickert]

@user11u

You didn’t explain how you did/want to add your UID=1001 user including its /home/username directory by using your limited user (UID=1000).

I normally use “vipw” for that. That is, I edit “/etc/passwd”. Typically, I will ssh into a system with my standard users, then use copy/paste to insert those lines into “/etc/passwd”. I then use “vipw -s” to edit “/etc/shadow”. And, finally, I use “vipw -g” to make the needed modifications there.

[user11u]

@OrsoBruno

So for the “other computer” my plan would be:

• print out the result of cat /etc/passwd |grep -E "user1|user2|user3|user4|user5"(of course use the real names of the users involved);
• that should show something like user1:x:1000:100:User1:/home/user1:/bin/bashetc., showing that user1 has UID=1000, GID=100 etc.
• during install define only a password for root, do not define any new user
• after the first reboot, go to a Virtual Terminal (CTRL+ALT+F4, for instance) and login as root
• at this point I would keep the existing users on the “old default” to avoid permission problems with their existing ~homes and files, so issue:
• useradd -u 1000 -g 100 -G wheel -m user1
  with that you re-create user1:users with /home/user1/ as an administrative account (wheel); if user1/UID=1000 is not “you” (as a system administrator) adjust username/UID accordingly;
• at this point you should be able to switch to the graphical login screen (usually at CTRL+ALT+F7) and login as user1 and even do further admin work from there if you like to;
• if not so, write here for help
• then re-create the other users like
  useradd -u 1001 -g 100 -m user2etc. (be careful matching username and UID as per your previous printout);
• at this point also the other users should be able to login and find their files where they left them;
• if not so, write here for help

If any user belongs to important additional groups you may add a corresponding -G groupxxat user creation, or adding via cockpit-accounts once the system is up and running.
Sorry for the long post, but it is easier done than written about.

[DISCLAIMER]: I didn’t check that workflow, so consider it only as a starting point; after all, you may have different ideas about your system.

@OrsoBruno
I followed your instructions. I did the first command " useradd -u 1000 -g 100 -G wheel -m user1" but when logging in, I didn’t know the password. No password was set in your command. So I tried it with another user using the “-p password” option in plain. After rebooting and try to login via GUI/window, OpenSuse did not accept my password. I checked in the “change user” dialog inputbox various reasons (caps lock/shift, us keyboard like z and y changed etc) but I used the correct password. Then again I checked “man useradd” and read that “crypt” should be used for the “-p” password parameter in useradd. But neither man pages of crypt nor crypt itself is installed. I’m stuck now.

[OrsoBruno]

Yes, the user is added with an empty password. To set one, as superuser issue:

passwd user1

You will be prompted twice for a new password. If the system complains about “password too short” or similar, this is just a warning. if you still like so called “unsecure” passwords you can go ahead and the system should accept that.

[user11u]

@OrsoBruno

1- the existing install is old enough and has username:users: useradd -u <UID> -U -m <username>
2- the existing install is new enough and already has username:username: useradd -u <UID> -m -g <username> <username>

@OrsoBruno
How can I find out which one (1 or 2) is the right choice for me?
When I look at /etc/group and /etc/passwd from the current 15.6 leap (on another computer) is has the following format and I assume it is the same format as on the other computers with leap 156 willing to install leap 16:

user:x:1001:100:user:/home/user:/bin/bash

and

users:x:100:

Before my posting I knew nothing about /etc/group and /etc/passwd , useradd command, wheel user(group) because Yast was dealing with it for me.

[user11u]

@OrsoBruno

then re-create the other users like
useradd -u 1001 -g 100 -m user2etc. (be careful matching username and UID as per your previous printout);

@OrsoBruno
Another Question: You told to use the the -m parameter. Is that a good idea? Man page tolds this is to create a new home directory. But there already is one. -N option “–no-user-group” seems better for me, but I don’t know how to set the username (the name unter /home then)

If it all worked, I’m about to write a new posting with a summary of all these information for others who want to “import existing users”. Is that a good idea? I propabply try to explain it in a not so technical way for beginners. The reason is that I think only few people are willing to scroll down and find the answers scattered.

[OrsoBruno]

@user11u

:1001:100:

UID 1001 has primary GID 100 which is users as shown by users:x:100:
So those are “old” installs following the old defaults.

So the existing homes for those users were created with <username>:users permissions, you can check with e.g. ll /home/.
If you want to keep those users as is, the correct step is:

• then re-create the other users like
  useradd -u 1001 -g 100 -m user2etc. (be careful matching username and UID as per your previous printout);

as per my later post.
Be aware that users created fresh by cockpit or other apps will have username:username permissions as per the “new default” (unless you tweak your new installation.

You can of course do otherwise, e.g. re-creating existing users with the “new default” but them changing their existing home permissions with chmod, or tweaking the system defaults so that even fresh users will be created according to the “old default”.
(Sorry for possible confusion, but there is no easy answer that fits any possible choice).

[OrsoBruno]

@user11u

If it all worked,

LT-B:~ # useradd -u 1001 -g 100 -G wheel -m etabeta

just checked and worked re-creating a “beta” account and recovering all leftover files from my last beta testing on this system, so that is the way to go if you just want all your old users to find their files where they left them.

[OrsoBruno]

@user11u

Another Question: You told to use the the -m parameter. Is that a good idea? Man page tolds this is to create a new home directory. But there already is one.

Quoting from man useradd:

   -m, --create-home
       Create the user's home directory if it does not exist.

please note the “if it does not exist”

[user11u]

@OrsoBruno @hcvv
“Importing existing user account” worked great! I followed mainly the instructions of OrsoBruno. Now I can access to the “old” users and can edit files etc.
Thank you both for your support.
I will post a new fresh posting with a brief summary of this page.

The only problem I still have, is that this laptop after setting BIOS to use UEFI seems to set BIOS back to old legacy mode - e.g. when the power is switched off. Does someone have an idea? It is an old laptop (nearly 2013) from acer travelmate P253-E where I recently installed the leap-16 for my dad.

First impression: Cockpit is “nothing special” for me, I guess I’ll use it rarely…

[OrsoBruno]

@user11u

e.g. when the power is switched off.

Some backup Lithium battery exhausted after 13 years?

[user11u]

Current state of leap 16 installations: I installed leap 16.0 on two computer so far. All seems pretty nice so far.
It wasn’t possible to install leap-16 on an old laptop from around 2008 (Lenovo Thinkpad T400) because it doesn’t support " x86-64-v2 or higher". I have to look for another distribution for that (e.g. an xfce). Running leap-156 /KDE was very good on them. Kernel panic while try to install.

[user11u]

I made a tutorial with the solution for the “import existing users”. Target audience: beginners/advanced level.
You can find it here:

Tutorial/Solution importing existing users from already existing /home - until leap 15.6 via installation possible

This is tutorial or kind of summary of my thread of Agama booting from master boot record 2)adding users These informations are based mainly on comments of @hcvv and @OrsoBruno issue/topic -the installation process until leap 15.6 had the chance to “import existing users” when you format your / partition and reuse your existing /home partition without formatting it. But leap 16.0 and installer agama doesn’t offer this. -until leap 15.6 I would have used yast user management to add the users. …

[OrsoBruno]

@user11u

laptop from around 2008 (Lenovo Thinkpad T400) because it doesn’t support " x86-64-v2 or higher".

Tumbleweed or Slowroll should still run on that.

[user11u]

You’re right. Installing updates on leap15.6 took quite long. Installing 4 or 5 gigabytes when using slowroll or tumbleweed would take too long on that old hardware without ssd harddisk. Therefore I’m looking for something similar to leap15.6.