Linux: How to Change User in Terminal & GNOME

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Easy ways to change to another user in Linux

Co-authored by Nicole Levine, MFA Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: January 16, 2024 Fact Checked

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• Using Su
|
• Using Sudo
|
• Using GNOME
|
• Tips

|Show more |Show less

The "su" command, which stands for "switch user" or "substitute user," makes it easy to change to another user in Linux. Or, if you just want to execute a command as another user without logging in as them, you can use "sudo," or "superuser do." Read on to learn how.

Things You Should Know

• To become another user in Linux, use su - <username>.
• To run commands as a different user, use sudo -u <username> <command>.
• In the GNOME desktop environment, you can change users in the System menu > Power Off / Log Out > Switch User.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Su

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1. 
   1
   Use su - username to log in as another user. Use this command to switch to another user at the command line. The "-" indicates that you want to log in as username and assume their environment variables, home directory, and shell preferences. Once you enter their password, your prompt will change to that user's prompt.

   • If you want to change users without changing your shell, omit the hyphen. E.g., su username.
   • sudo – username is the same as sudo -l username and sudo --login username.
   • In some Linux distributions, (not Ubuntu), you can use su - (with no username specified) to become the root user. It's better to use sudo to execute root-level commands as needed instead of becoming the root user—you're far less likely to break things.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Sudo

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1. 
   1
   Use sudo -u username command to run a command as another user. Just like when you use sudo to run commands with root permissions, you can also use it to execute any command as another user.

   • You'll need to enter the user's password to execute the command. If you don't know it, you can always change it using the passwd command.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using GNOME

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1. 
   1
   Click the system menu. It's at the top-right corner of your desktop—where you'll see the network icon, volume, and battery.
2. 
   2
   Click Power Off / Log Out. This expands more options.
3. 
   3
   Click Switch User and enter that user's login information. As long as you have at least one more user added to your Linux system, you'll see the Switch User option.

   • When you switch users, the applications you were running will continue to run in the background.
   • You can easily switch back and forth between users as needed.
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Tips

• Run the whoami command to see which user you're logged in as.

  • If you use su to switch to another user, whoami will report the username you changed to.
  • If you used sudo to run a command as another user, you'll still see your regular login name with whoami.
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