Lab
Cloud

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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Path Info

Level

Beginner

Duration

1h 45m

Last updated

Jun 02, 2025

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
```
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
```
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
```
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
```
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
```

Author

Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

What's a lab?

Hands-on Labs are real environments created by industry experts to help you learn. These environments help you gain knowledge and experience, practice without compromising your system, test without risk, destroy without fear, and let you learn from your mistakes. Hands-on Labs: practice your skills before delivering in the real world.

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We will provide the credentials and environment necessary for you to practice right within your browser.

Guided walkthrough

Follow along with the author’s guided walkthrough and build something new in your provided environment!

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Managing File Ownership and Permissions

Path Info

Table of Contents

Lock Bill's, Susan's, and Juan’s Accounts

Create Accounts for Nancy, Greg, and Jeremy

Remove Bill as a User and Transfer Ownership of his Home Directory

Remove Susan as a User and Transfer Ownership of her Home Directory

Remove Juan as a User and Transfer Ownership of His Home Directory

What's a lab?

Provided environment for hands-on practice

Guided walkthrough

Did you know?