How to Remove (Delete) a User on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Pre-Flight Check

• These instructions are intended specifically for removing a user on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

• I’ll be working from a Liquid Web Core Managed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS server, and I’ll be logged in as root.

Step 1: Delete the User

It’s just one simple command to add a user. In this case, we’re adding a user called madman:

userdel madman

If you want to remove all of the files for the user, then use -r:

userdel -r madman

Step 2: Remove Root Privileges to the User

visudo

Find the following code:

## Allow root to run any commands anywhere
root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
madman ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

In this case, we’re removing root privileges from the user madman. Remove the following:

madman ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Then exit and save the file with the key commands Ctrl-x, Y, enter.