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Using the root account for everyday administration is risky — a single mistyped command can affect the entire system. Creating a dedicated user with sudo privileges lets you perform administrative tasks safely while keeping day-to-day work under a limited account.

Prerequisites

• Root or existing sudo access to your VPS
• An active SSH session

Step 1 — Create the New User

On Ubuntu and Debian:

adduser newuser

You'll be asked to set a password and, optionally, additional profile details (these can be left blank).

Step 2 — Grant Sudo Privileges

On Ubuntu and Debian, add the user to the sudo group:

usermod -aG sudo newuser

On RHEL-based distributions (AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CentOS), use the wheel group instead:

usermod -aG wheel newuser

Step 3 — Verify Group Membership

groups newuser

You should see sudo (or wheel) listed.

Step 4 — Test Sudo Access

su - newuser
sudo whoami

Enter the user's password when prompted. If configured correctly, the command returns:

root

Step 5 — Log In via SSH as the New User

From your local machine, in a new terminal window (keep your current session open):

ssh newuser@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Optional — Add an SSH Key for the New User

ssh-copy-id newuser@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Checking Sudo Privileges

sudo -l

This shows which commands the current user is permitted to run with sudo.

Removing Sudo Access

deluser newuser sudo

Deleting a User

deluser --remove-home newuser

Common Errors

"newuser is not in the sudoers file" — the user wasn't added to the correct group, or you need to log out and back in for group membership to take effect.

sudo: command not found — sudo isn't installed; install it with apt install sudo (as root) first.

Best Practices

• Use this account for all routine administration instead of root
• Prefer SSH keys over passwords for this account
• Only disable root SSH login after confirming this account works correctly

FAQ

What's the difference between the sudo and wheel groups?
They serve the same purpose — sudo is used on Debian/Ubuntu, wheel on RHEL-based distributions like AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux.

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Continue Reading

• How to Connect to Your VPS via SSH (Windows, macOS & Linux)
• SSH Hardening: Change the Port, Disable Root Login & Use SSH Keys
• VPS Security Checklist for Beginners

Browse more articles in Getting Started / VPS Basics.