UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi all,

I just got an account created on a Linux box. When I log in, I got the error message " Could not chdir to home directory /home/yyyy : No such file or directory". When I checked the /etc/passwd file, I could see that my home directory is there. i thought when the account is created the home directory is automatically created. but, it looks like not. Do I have to try to create my home directory? How can we explain that?

Thanks,

You must create the user with useradd -m for the home dir to be created for you.

It's probably preferable to delete the user and create it again, since -m will create it with the proper permissions and copy in files from /etc/skel appropriately.

ok, thanks. As I will let them know. I thought I would have been able to create the directory myself. Thanks so much.

---------- Post updated at 02:20 PM ---------- Previous update was at 02:19 PM ----------

Is the only solution is deleting and recreating the user. Or is it something I can do to fix it as I am the one that they created the account for?
Thanks,

If your home directory is not present it will (if the box is configured correctly) require root to fix it. But the system admin could just create the directory manually. So deleting and recreating the user is not the only solution.