Then make sure to give your new user a strong password: sudo passwd protector

This command will make a new user without a home directory (since you won’t need it for the purpose of password protection). Try it now by creating a new user named “protector:” sudo useradd -no-create-home protector

You can use that same logic to password protect a directory you care about. When you try to use files in that directory, you will need to either change to the root user or give yourself superuser privileges – both of which should require a password. In contrast, it can’t freely access files the root user owns.Įxamination of a root-owned directory may reveal its permissions, owner, and group as something like drw- root root, meaning the root user can read and write in that directory but all other users cannot. It may own files and folders in that home directory, so it can access them freely. Your user, for example, is likely granted a home directory, “/home/username”, and has specific rights on your machine. Unix-based machines utilize a directory structure that makes use of ownership to allow and prevent access to files. This article will discuss the benefits and limitations of using file ownership and groups as a password-protection measure. When using Linux you can restrict users from file access with a few simple commands.

How to put a password on a folder