Trouble creating a user account

[Simpatico]

New installation of a Slackware 12.0 subscription here. For some reason, useradd is giving me problems.

I have a root user, but useradd isn't adding a normal usable account.

It doesn't create a /home/username directory, and I think this is the reason why I also can't get startx to give me anything. startx brings up KDE fine under the root account.

I've looked at the man pages, but can't figure out if I need the -d or -D switch. Any hints would be appreciated.

[oz]

What about the adduser command? Does it work, or do you ge the same results?

[Simpatico]

Sorry, I meant adduser. It gives me an account I can log into, after I change the password. But startx as this user gives me a blank screen and a timeout after a couple of minutes. Like I said, root has no problem bringing up KDE. This makes no sense to me, because they're both using the same xorg.config.

Also, there's no /home/username directory - which is probably why startx doesn't work.

I'm sharing a /home partition with Fedora, but using different usernames. That shouldn't be a problem, but I'm beginning to wonder.

[oz]

I've never tried sharing a /home directory, but take a look at this howto and see if it offers any clues:

Dual boot with two Linux, using the same home directory | Linux Operating system; Configuration, How to and news focused on (Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Centos)

I'm thinking the problem might have something to do with permission issues and your UID/GUID as discussed toward the bottom of the page. Not really sure, though.

[Simpatico]

Apparently useradd and adduser are both valid commands, and I simply was entering the wrong one. So, I wasn't being prompted for room number, phone number, and all the other info. It was simply adding the login and nothing else.

Everything is working fine with sharing /home with Fedora. As long as usernames are kept separate, there is no problem.

For the benefit of others who might be reading: there are problems when using the same username on the same /home partition between two different distributions. That is not a good idea.

ozar, thank you! My system and Slackware have been very unfriendly toward each other for 2 years. I now finally have it running.

[oz]

Great! Glad you got it all worked out...

[rcgreen]

Apparently adduser will go ahead and create the
home directory for you. useradd -d with no arguments
should do the same. I've tripped on this issue before.

[Simpatico]

Apparently adduser will go ahead and create the
home directory for you. useradd -d with no arguments
should do the same. I've tripped on this issue before.

I didn't use the -d switch, so that's what was happening. It's easy to do.

I appreciate the reply.