{"id":8950,"date":"2025-05-19T14:30:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T09:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/?p=8950"},"modified":"2025-05-19T14:31:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T09:01:00","slug":"how-do-i-create-a-read-only-user-on-an-ubuntu-server","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/how-do-i-create-a-read-only-user-on-an-ubuntu-server\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I create a read-only user on an Ubuntu server?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction:
<\/strong>Creating a read-only user on an Ubuntu server is useful for allowing access to specific files or directories without permitting modifications. This can enhance security by restricting user permissions to view-only access. This guide will walk you through the steps to create a read-only user on an Ubuntu server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prerequisites:<\/strong>
1. An Ubuntu server with root or sudo access.
Step 1:<\/strong>
1. Access your Ubuntu server via SSH or a terminal:
2. Replace your_username with your current user and server_ip with your server\u2019s IP address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$ ssh your_username@server_ip<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Step 2:<\/strong>
Create a new user named readonlyuser (you can choose any name) without a home directory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$ adduser –no-create-home –shell \/bin\/bash readonlyuser<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Step 3<\/strong>:
1. To limit the user\u2019s ability to execute commands or navigate directories, set their shell to a restricted shell like rbash:
2. If you don\u2019t need a restricted shell, you can keep \/bin\/bash, but rbash prevents the user from running arbitrary commands or changing directories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$ usermod -s \/bin\/rbash readonlyuser<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Step 4:<\/strong>
1. If the directory has restricted permissions (e.g., owned by root), add the user to a group with read access:
2. This creates a group readonlygroup, adds the user to it, sets the group as the directory\u2019s owner, and grants read permissions to the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$ groupadd readonlygroup
$ usermod -aG readonlygroup readonlyuser
$ chown -R :readonlygroup \/var\/www\/html
$ chmod -R g+r \/var\/www\/html<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ensure the user cannot write or execute files in the directory:
1. o-wx removes write (w) and execute (x) permissions for \u201cothers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

chmod -R o-wx \/var\/www\/html<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Step 5:<\/strong>
1. Verify the permissions:
2. The output should show read-only access for \u201cothers\u201d (e.g., drwxr-xr–).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ls -ld \/var\/www\/html<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Notes:<\/strong>
1. no-create-home ensures that no home directory is created for the user.
2. shell \/bin\/bash sets the user\u2019s shell to \/bin\/bash.
3. Follow the prompts to set a password and fill in optional user details (you can leave them blank by pressing Enter).
4. Identify the directory you want the user to access (e.g., \/var\/www\/html for a web directory).
5. Grant read-only access to the directory using the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$ chmod -R o+r \/var\/www\/html<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n



<\/strong>

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