How do I change UID of 0 from non-root user?

Question

I have set the UID of user01 to be 0 when I created it. Now I am trying to delete the user and it complains "user01 is currently logged in". I check the process list, and that doesn't seem to be true. However, root (which also has UID of 0) has processes running. How can I delete user01? I also tried changing UID of user01 with usermod, with no luck.

How are you trying to delete the user exactly? What operating system is this? — David Schwartz, Aug 24 '15 at 20:10
This is Linux: 3.14.42-31.38.amzn1.x86_64 . Used command "userdel user01" — James Velez, Aug 24 '15 at 20:59

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 24 '15 at 20:57

1

I would do that with:

sed -i '/user01/d' {passwd,shadow}

answered Aug 24 '15 at 20:57

Adam Balawender

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1

Followed by rm -r /home/user01 to get rid of their home directory ! (James, Adams command deletes the entry from the password and shadow files, effectively killing that user) – davidgo Aug 24 '15 at 21:52
This worked! I needed to run this at /etc directory. – James Velez Aug 24 '15 at 22:02

How do I change UID of 0 from non-root user?

1 Answers1