useradd : unable to lock passwd file

[asdfgh2]

when iam creating user using useradd

it prompts an error


unable to lock passwd file

[praka123]

useradd is a raw command.which distro are you using.
also you need to be root(admin) user to do that.try as root.
remember useradd needs many things(mostly auto set) like the default /home/user directory,shell,ur details etc etc.there are gui tools available in most modern distros like Debian or Fedora

[asdfgh2]

thanks for ur reply


iam using redhat 9.0 and iam logged in as user root



but iam getting the same error as " unable to lock passwd file "


what to do

[praka123]

this is queit a old distro use fedora 7 (redhat's latest version is called fedora)
the tool used if u have GUI GNOME working is "redhat-config-users" i think.infact rh website too have details.
if u want to know more about cmd u can try in terminal "man useradd"
ex usage in cli is like u need to specify ur primary group,secondary groups(wheel),home directory,user details passwd etc

[sashijoseph]

Hey look in your /etc/passwd ..... there should be some lock files... passwd.lock etc.Delete them,restart and get going.

[asdfgh2]

thaks for ur reply

i have deleted /etc/passwd.lock file

now its working