Adding a new Mac OS X user via CLI.
List all existing users IDs in numerical order to see which ones are already taken:
# dscl . -list /Users UniqueID | sort -nk 2
Or simply check that user’s ID we want to use does not exist on a system:
# id 1005 id: 1005: no such user
Do the same for groups, list all existing group IDs in numerical order:
# dscl . -list /Groups PrimaryGroupID | sort -nk 2
Create a new user for Sandy:
# dscl . -create /Users/sandy # dscl . -create /Users/sandy UserShell /bin/bash # dscl . -create /Users/sandy RealName "sandy" # dscl . -create /Users/sandy UniqueID "1005" # dscl . -create /Users/sandy PrimaryGroupID 1005 # dscl . -passwd /Users/sandy
Check newly created user’s details:
# dscl . -read /Users/sandy | tail -n 6 PrimaryGroupID: 1005 RealName: sandy RecordName: sandy RecordType: dsRecTypeStandard:Users UniqueID: 1005 UserShell: /bin/bash
Create a home directory:
# mkdir /Users/sandy
Change the ownership appropriately as well as permissions:
# chown sandy:staff /Users/sandy # chmod 0755 /Users/sandy