43. User Management

For security reasons, administrative tasks in Xubuntu can only be performed by users with special privileges. The first user account created during installation will, by default, be able to perform administrative tasks.

When you run an application that requires administrative privileges, you will be asked to enter your password. This helps protect your system from malicious activity and lessens the chance that you will accidentally change the way your system works.

Each time you type your password in a terminal session, it will be remembered for 15 minutes, so that you do not have to type it again.


	Users must be a member of the 'sudo' group in order to carry out administrative operations. Information on how to change groups can be found below.

Users and groups

When Xubuntu is installed, only one user account is created. If multiple users use the computer, it is highly encouraged to create separate user accounts for everyone. This allows users to have their individual settings, files and access rights.

To modify the users or groups on your system, navigate to → Settings Manager → Users and Groups.


	You need administrative rights to make changes to users and groups.

Managing users

To add a new user:

Click the Add button

Enter your password

Fill in the Name and Username

Click the OK button

If you want to give a user administrative rights to the system:

Select the user whose account type you want to change and press the Change... button

Enter your password if prompted to do so

Select the Administrator option (or select Desktop User to revert)

Press OK to apply the selected changes


	For more fine-grained access control, click the Advanced Settings button in the User Settings dialog, enter your password, click the User Privileges tab and from there select or deselect the desired options.

To remove a user from the system, select the user you want to delete and click the Delete button.

Managing groups

To add a new group:

Click the Manage Groups button

Click the Add button

Enter your password

Choose a name for the new group and, if you want, change the default value for the Group ID

At this time, you have the option of selecting Group Members from the list

Click the OK button

To remove a group from the system, click on the Manage Groups button, select the group you want to delete and click the Delete button.

Customizing your personal info

Mugshot is a lightweight user configuration utility that allows you to easily set the profile image and user details for your user profile and any supported applications.

To launch Mugshot navigate to → Settings Manager → About Me.

To change your profile image, click the image button on the left of the GUI, select one of the given options and follow the instructions.


	Mugshot requires the installation of gstreamer1.0-tools package to use the Capture from camera... feature.

Fill the text-fields with the required personal data and click Apply. When applying these details with Pidgin and/or LibreOffice installed, you will be prompted to update their settings as well.


	If the personal data inserted in the First Name and Last Name text-fields differ from the existing values held in /etc/passwd, you'll be prompted to insert your password as a security measure to prevent unwanted updates to your personal information.