Knowledge Base

User Account Lockout in Linux Operating Systems

To lock or disable a user account on a system with Linux operating system, you can edit and write the following command according to your needs.

sudo passwd -l [user_name]

For example, if you want to lock the Ubuntu user account:

sudo passwd -l ubuntu

You can customize and use the following command to specify the expiration date and lock it automatically.

sudo passwd -e YYYY-MM-DD [user_name]

For example, to lock the Ubuntu user account on 05.10.2020;

sudo passwd -e 2020-10-05 ubuntu

Note: To reactivate a disabled user, you can edit and write the command as follows.

sudo passwd -u [username]

For example, we can use the following command to activate the Ubuntu user.

sudo passwd -u ubuntu