How to Add User to Sudoers in Debian 12

In Debian 12, the sudoers file is the configuration file that determines which users have the ability to run commands with elevated privileges using the sudo command. By default, the sudoers file is located at /etc/sudoers.

Adding a user to the sudoers file is a common task for system administrators who want to grant certain users the ability to perform administrative tasks on a Debian 12 system. In this article, we will walk you through the process of adding a user to the sudoers file in Debian 12.

Open the sudoers file for editing: To add a user to the sudoers file, you will need to open the file for editing. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal:
```
sudo visudo
```

This command will open the sudoers file in the default text editor specified in your system. Make sure to use the visudo command instead of directly editing the sudoers file to prevent syntax errors that could prevent the system from working properly.

Add the user to the sudoers file: Once the sudoers file is open for editing, you can scroll down to the User privilege specification section. Here, you can add a new line to grant sudo privileges to a specific user.

To add a user named "exampleuser" to the sudoers file, you can add the following line:

exampleuser ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

This line specifies that the user "exampleuser" has sudo privileges to run any command as any user on any host.

Save and close the sudoers file: After adding the user to the sudoers file, you can save and close the file by pressing "Ctrl + X" to exit, "Y" to save changes, and "Enter" to confirm the filename.
Test sudo privileges: To verify that the user has been successfully added to the sudoers file, you can switch to the user account using the su command and then attempt to run a command with sudo privileges.
```
su - exampleuser
sudo ls
```

If the user is able to execute the command with sudo privileges without being prompted for a password, then the user has been successfully added to the sudoers file.

In conclusion, adding a user to the sudoers file in Debian 12 is a straightforward process that allows you to grant administrative privileges to specific users. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily add a user to the sudoers file and provide them with the necessary privileges to perform administrative tasks on your Debian 12 system.