User and Superuser Management
Set Administrator (root)
Password:
It is advisable for all Mageia
installations to set a superuser or administrator's password, usually
called the root password in Linux. As you type a
password into the top box the colour of its shield will change from red to
yellow to green depending on the strength of the password. A green shield
shows you are using a strong password. You need to repeat the same
password in the box just below the first password box, this checks that
you have not mistyped the first password by comparing them.
All passwords are case sensitive, it is best to use a mixture of
letters (upper and lower case), numbers and other characters in a
password.
Enter a user
Add a user here. A user has fewer rights than the superuser (root), but enough to use the internet, office applications or play games and anything else the average user does with his computer
Icon: if you click on this button it will change the user's icon.
Real Name: Insert the user's real name into this text box.
Login Name: Here you enter the user login name or let drakx use a version of the user's real name. The
login name is case sensitive.
Password: In this text box you should type
in the user password. There is a shield at the end of the text box
that indicates the strength of the password. (See also )
Password (again): Retype the user password
into this text box and drakx will check you have the same password in
each of the user password text boxes.
Any user you add while installing Mageia, will have a both read
and write protected home directory (umask=0027).
You can add all extra needed users in the Configuration
- Summary step during the install. Choose User
management.
The access permissions can also be changed after the
install.
Advanced User Management
If the advanced button is clicked you are
offered a screen that allows you to edit the settings for the user you are
adding.
Additionally, you can disable or enable a
guest account.
Anything a guest with a default rbash guest
account saves to his /home directory will be erased when he logs out.
The guest should save his important files to a USB key.
Enable guest account: Here you can enable
or disable a guest account. The guest account allows a guest to log
into and use the PC, but he has more restricted access than normal
users.
Shell: This drop down list allows you to
change the shell used by the user you are adding in the previous
screen, options are Bash, Dash and Sh
User ID: Here you can set the user ID for
the user you are adding in the previous screen. This is a number.
Leave it blank unless you know what you are doing.
Group ID: This lets you set the group ID.
Also a number, usually the same one as for the user. Leave it blank
unless you know what you are doing.