Linux: 'Username' is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported

Question

After logging into ssh in a linux machine, I got this message:

'Username' is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.

How can I resolve this? I'm connecting ssh to my virtual private server.

I need to have sudoers privilegies.

do your user have admin access? If no then login with root and add your user to `/etc/sudoers` file — smn_onrocks, Dec 14 '17 at 05:47
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/179954/username-is-not-in-the-sudoers-file-this-incident-will-be-reported — Stephen C, Jul 20 '19 at 12:43
And https://askubuntu.com/questions/2214/how-do-i-add-a-user-to-the-sudo-group And https://superuser.com/questions/866582/username-is-not-in-the-sudoers-file-this-incident-will-be-reported — Stephen C, Jul 20 '19 at 12:47

sanath meti · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-03T21:06:50.693

186

Open file

su root 
nano /etc/sudoers

Then add the user below admin user like below syntax.

user_name ALL=(ALL)  ALL

edited Jun 03 '22 at 21:06

answered Dec 14 '17 at 06:20

sanath meti

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13

Recommended way is to use `visudo` to avoid simultaneous edits (possibly not a problem in this case, but still...) – eMMe Dec 14 '17 at 06:25
6

It's only what the comment at the very top of the file makes clear `"## This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root."` – David C. Rankin Dec 14 '17 at 06:44
114

How does this make sense? The issue is that the user can't use sudo, so how can part of the solution be using sudo? – Peter Uithoven Jan 25 '19 at 12:55
1

Found that following in one of a video. It worked for me. Given that, we need to be in root mode. For that, ssh root@localhost, then sudo nano /etc/sudoers – Kathiravan Natarajan Dec 21 '19 at 02:38
1

I did not use visudo. It was successful – LizardKingLK Jun 22 '20 at 00:17
1

lifesaver, thank you - just what i was looking for. – Marko Bajlovic Dec 14 '20 at 18:09
1

I dont like this answer. It should explain more than, this should be done through root user but he left that information making people confused. – MaXi32 Aug 25 '21 at 03:25
@KansaiRobot You cannot su root if the user is not in the list of sudoers file – MaXi32 Aug 25 '21 at 03:26
3

I believe many people upvote this answer because they only need to copy paste the last command from this answer. – MaXi32 Sep 03 '21 at 14:30
1

This works on ubuntu 18.04 VM – rajarajan2809 Oct 18 '22 at 19:13
1

So easy and all the blogs are just wasting the time. Simple and straight. Thanks – CHETAN RAJPUT Mar 09 '23 at 18:31

score 71 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 14 '17 at 10:13

71

Both the above answers are correct as far as they go but it is easier to add your user to the sudo group in debian based systems (Ubuntu, kbuntu, debian, etc) and the wheel group under RedHat based systems (RedHat, Fedora, CentOS, etc)

usermod -a -G sudo user
or
usermod -a -G wheel user

answered Dec 14 '17 at 10:13

Rodney Howard

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Exaaaactly. Include OpenSuse under the 2nd group. In my case I I reversed the order, modifying `sudoers` before adding my user to `wheel` and ended up here. – Tom Russell Aug 11 '21 at 05:57
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It's too much better this way, because you don't need edit none critical files for make this operation. – RSiqueira Jan 05 '22 at 13:20
4

Didn't worked on my Ubuntu 22.04 by on [Contabo](https://contabo.com/) – Mahesh Ghamaand Nov 09 '22 at 09:33
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@Mahesh User's process tree may need to be restarted. – konsolebox Nov 10 '22 at 02:10
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It triggers the `Permission denied` issue. – Tek Kshetri Nov 13 '22 at 17:43
1

usermod: command not found. – alejandrob Mar 25 '23 at 12:58
https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-add-user-to-group-in-linux/ – envs_h_gang_5 Apr 01 '23 at 09:42

Sonal · Answer 3 · 2021-05-10T16:30:22.540

38

This is a very common error for the beginners. The error occurs because we are trying to access/update something with super privileges from the user instead of root -user.

Hence, to solve this,we need to make changes in the sudoers file where the root user has been given the privileges. So, switch to root user,run the following command

sudo su 
# vi /etc/sudoers

The editor would open the file, now scroll down to the bottom where you will see a line

#User privilege specification

root     ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

username ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

As you can see, I have just added my username with all permissions.

Save the file, and exit. Switch back to the user and start using sudo commands with ease.

edited May 10 '21 at 16:30

answered Jul 20 '19 at 12:12

Sonal

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this is the solution except that I also needed to "su root" – Tom Apr 07 '21 at 16:29
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Thanks for calling it out. I assumed it , but I have added it to the solution. – Sonal May 10 '21 at 16:31
1

This should be the accepted answer. Note that it assumes that the user knows how to manipulate text inside the VI editor. – crjacinro May 04 '23 at 16:41

score 11 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 09 '19 at 20:06

At the top of the aforementioned /etc/sudoers file there's an info:

"## This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root."

In order of doing as we're told, use:

$ su
> Enter root password: *******
$ visudo -f /etc/sudoers

Find the following section of /etc/sudoers file and add your users privileges:

# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
user_name ALL=(ALL) ALL

Save the file (press esc and type :x if vim is your default text editor, for nano press ctrl+o, enter and then ctrl+x).

Type exit to turn off the root shell, and enjoy the power of sudo with your username

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Nov 10 '20 at 10:28

7

You should use visudo to edit /etc/sudoers file.

Just run sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers

and add your username with correct syntax and access rights. You can find more in man sudoers

edited Nov 10 '20 at 10:28

snowpeak

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answered Dec 14 '17 at 09:39

Viktor Khilin

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Robert Sinclair · Answer 6 · 2020-05-09T03:50:16.123

6

Got a slightly different syntax to Rodney's from my host

usermod -aG wheel username

Their explanation was

The user will need to be added to the wheel group.

Use the usermod command to add the user to the wheel group.

You may need to log off and log back in after doing this

edited May 09 '20 at 03:50

answered Jul 05 '18 at 15:41

Robert Sinclair

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I simply needed to log off and log back in after applying this solution. – May 09 '20 at 03:48
2

What if my user already belongs to the wheel group but I still get "'Username' is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported."? – Adrian Lopez Sep 09 '20 at 12:10
@AdrianLopez the wheel syntax only makes sense if wheel is a sudoers group, which in your case it probably isn't. This answer is also not really helpful, but rather miss informing to be honest. By default wheel isn't in the sudoers file. – Patrick Abraham Nov 26 '21 at 16:00

score 6 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 13 '19 at 19:20

6

Entered Root using command $ su root. Input Root Password
Install sudo: $ apt-get install sudo -y
Add your < username> $ adduser <username> sudo
$ exit
Then sign up and sign in the < username> session
Finally, check with: < username>@< hostname>:~$ sudo apt-get update

answered Jun 13 '19 at 19:20

Braian Coronel

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su root was basically the answer i needed. – Hicsy Oct 18 '21 at 01:36

score 6 · Answer 8 · answered May 11 '20 at 12:19

6

If you're unable to find visudo on your system

whereis visudo

Launch this tool

./PATH/visudo

add this line under

User privilege specification

user_name ALL=(ALL)  ALL

Save the changes and here you go !

answered May 11 '20 at 12:19

Olivier D'Ancona

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score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 18 '20 at 14:34

First, switch/ log into the root user account or an account that has sudo privileges.

Next add the user to the group for sudo users:

If you're on Ubuntu members of the sudo group are granted with sudo privileges, so you can use this:
```
sudo adduser username sudo
```
If you're on CentOS members of the wheel group are granted with sudo privileges, so you can use this::
```
usermod -aG wheel username
```

Note: Replace username with your desired username.

To test the sudo access, log into the account that you just added to the sudo users grouP, and then run the command below using sudo:

sudo whoami

You will be prompted to enter the password. If the user have sudo access, the output will be:

root

If you get an error saying user is not in the sudoers file, it means that the user doesn’t have sudo privileges yet.

That's all.

I hope this helps

score 4 · Answer 10 · edited Apr 16 '21 at 20:21

4

try this video, it works for me.

ssh root@localhost
sudo vi /etc/sudoers
insert username in file 'sudoers'
save and exit ssh

edited Apr 16 '21 at 20:21

Dharman

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answered Dec 30 '20 at 03:35

user6670135

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Apr 15 '20 at 04:35

0

Add your user to the list of sudoers. This will make it easier to execute commands as the user that you have created will require admin privileges.

sudo adduser username sudo

(Note:- Username is the user you want to give the privileges)

answered Apr 15 '20 at 04:35

Tej

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this won't work if the user can't use sudo which is what the original poster can't do hence the error message. – Sebastian Apr 27 '21 at 09:38

Linux: 'Username' is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported

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