Users Adduser – How to Automatically Create .virtualenvs Directory for New Users

adduserusers

I want to automatically create a directory called ".virtualenvs" in each new user's home directory upon creation of that new user.

I am using the useradd command to create new users.

Best Answer

Create the directory /etc/skel/.virtualenvs. The /etc/skel directory will be used as a skeleton for a new home directory.

It's defined in /etc/adduser.conf:

# The SKEL variable specifies the directory containing "skeletal" user
# files; in other words, files such as a sample .profile that will be
# copied to the new user's home directory when it is created.
SKEL=/etc/skel

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Ubuntu – How to create a new user without home directory and with specific UID

First - UIDs less than 1000 are usually system reserved, pick a higher UID.

Second - Why are you wanting it to not have a home directory. Keep in mind the --no-create-home doesn't mean the user doesn't have a home directory assigned, it just isn't created. An error will be logged every time that user logs in.

Third - Please remember to post errors your get, else we can only assume as to what the problem is. I'm assuming it has to do with the name format, in which case, you can bypass this using --force-badname, as the error message would say, or use all lower case characters.

*edit typo

Ubuntu – Automatically create folder in new users’ home directory

All new users' home directories are copies of /etc/skel when the user gets created through any method that automatically creates a home directory.

If you are sure that you need the Sales folder on every new user account's home directory, you can just create the folder in /etc/skel.

Make sure the owner and permission of everything you create or modify in there is correct.

Set the permissions you want, they will be copied to the new user's home directory as they are. Usually you take 644 (octal representation) or rw-r--r-- (string representation). You can modify this with one the commands below. Make sure everything is owner-readable and all directories are owner-executable (otherwise the owner can't list or access their content).

sudo chmod 644 /etc/skel/FILE_OR_DIRECTORY to set permissions for a single file or directory using the octal representation.
sudo chmod u=rw,g=r,o=r /etc/skel/FILE_OR_DIRECTORY to set permissions for a single file or directory using a syntax similar to the string representation.
sudo chmod -R 644 /etc/skel to recursively set permissions for all files and directories using the octal representation.
sudo chmod -R u=rw,g=r,o=r /etc/skel to recursively set permissions for all files and directoriesusing a syntax similar to the string representation.

The owner should be root. You change this recursively on all files and folders in /etc/skel with the command below:

sudo chown -R root: /etc/skel

Best Answer

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