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Labs

Managing File Ownership and Permissions

In this hands-on lab, we will practice managing Linux file and directory ownership and permissions. Having a solid understanding of ownership and permissions is a fundamental skill for Linux systems administration.

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Lab Info
Level
Beginner
Last updated
Jun 02, 2025
Duration
1h 45m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Lock Bill's, Susan's, and Juan’s Accounts
    1. Run the following command:
    for i in bill susan juan; do sudo passwd -l $i; done
    
  2. Challenge

    Create Accounts for Nancy, Greg, and Jeremy
    1. Run the following commands:
    sudo useradd -m nancy
    
    sudo useradd -m greg
    
    sudo useradd -m jeremy
    
  3. Challenge

    Remove Bill as a User and Transfer Ownership of his Home Directory
    1. Remove the user bill.
    sudo userdel bill
    
    1. Change the ownership of Bill's home directory (recursively) to the user nancy and the group jason.
    sudo chown -R nancy:jason /home/bill
    
    1. Change the mode of the directory to grant read and execute permissions to the group.
    sudo chmod g+rx /home/bill
    
  4. Challenge

    Remove Susan as a User and Transfer Ownership of her Home Directory
    1. Remove the user susan.
    sudo userdel susan
    
    1. Change the ownership of Susan's home directory (recursively) to the user greg and the group jason.
    sudo chown -R greg:jason /home/susan
    
    1. Change the mode of the directory to grant read and execute permissions to the group.
    sudo chmod g+rx /home/susan
    
  5. Challenge

    Remove Juan as a User and Transfer Ownership of His Home Directory
    1. Remove the user juan.
    sudo userdel juan
    
    1. Change the ownership of Juan's home directory (recursively) to the user jeremy and the group sally.
    sudo chown -R jeremy:sally /home/juan
    
    1. Change the mode of the directory to grant read and execute permissions to the group.
    sudo chmod g+rx /home/juan
    
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