[ubuntu-uk] Reinstating user

[Rob Beard]

Dianne Reuby wrote:
> I deleted one of the user accounts on my PC (Ubuntu 8.04). Their home
> directory is still there. When I try to add them back in, it won't let
> me use that home directory for the account - I assume this is a security
> feature on 8.04 as I've done it before on previous versions OK.
> 
> Is there a way to add a user back and use their home directory?
> 
> Next time I'll just change the password to prevent access for a short
> while. :)
> 
> 
> TIA
> Dianne

It's due to the way Linux/Unix sees the user accounts.  For instace if 
you had an account called bob when you installed it, it would have an 
actual id of something like 1000.  Then if you deleted the account 
boband the created another account called bob it would be assigned to a 
different ID, possibly like 1001, 1002 etc...

Because the IDs aren't the same number, it looks like a different user.

Now to fix it, you might want to try something like this from a terminal...

sudo chown -R bob:bob /home/bob

Just change 'bob' to whatever the username is.  It is case sensitive.

There's quite possibly more easier or elegant ways of doing it, but 
hopefully this will get you out of the fix you're in.

Rob