How to add a user to the wheel group?

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ununquadium Author

Level 1

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How to add a user to the wheel group?

How to add a user to the wheel group in leopard?

Posted on Nov 10, 2007 7:39 AM

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Answer 1

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biovizier

Level 5

7,925 points

Nov 10, 2007 7:52 AM in response to ununquadium

In Leopard, users can be added to system groups using ' dscl'. For example, while logged into an "admin" account, the command below can be entered using "/Applications" > "Utilities" > "Terminal.app" to add a user "username" to the "wheel" group:<pre>
sudo /usr/bin/dscl . -append /groups/wheel GroupMembership username</pre>

If you prefer a GUI, "Workgroup Manager.app", included with the Leopard version of the "Server Admin Tools" can be used.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/serveradmintools105.html

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Answer 2

ununquadium Author

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Nov 10, 2007 8:44 AM in response to biovizier

That did it. Since I am not using the admin account for my daily work I needed to put my normal account into the wheel group to be able to su to root.

However, I don't understand how the above command works. The /groups directory does not exist on my system, but 'dscl . -read /groups/wheel' gives me correct output. Hm.. I guess I have to take a look at the way the open directory architecture works.

Thanks anyway 🙂

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Answer 3

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

Nov 10, 2007 10:16 AM in response to ununquadium

I wouldn't muck with the wheel group. It is used internally by OS X and modifying it could have unintended consequences.

If all you want is to be able to get to root on the command line from a non-admin account, that is easily accomplished by using su and then sudo:

$ su admin Password: bash-3.2$ sudo -s Password: root#

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Answer 4

ununquadium Author

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Nov 10, 2007 10:45 AM in response to ununquadium

Well, I am using bsd-like operating systems (especially OpenBSD) and linux for many years (but I am new to osx/darwin). Adding a regular user to the wheel group and using 'visudo' to allow all users in the wheel group to use 'sudo' and 'su' is the normal way to go. You say this doesn't apply to darwin-based osx?

Message was edited by: ununquadium

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Answer 5

dchao99

Level 4

2,080 points

Nov 16, 2007 11:09 PM in response to ununquadium

I would just edit the sudoers file and add your "user" name in there, and make it has access to everything:

user ALL = (ALL) ALL

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Answer 6

ununquadium Author

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Nov 22, 2007 2:50 PM in response to dchao99

This allows my user to use sudo, but on darwin this does not allow him to su to root (su - root).

Message was edited by: ununquadium

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