usermod: cannot lock /etc/passwd

Question

I get this massage: usermod: Permission denied. usermod: cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later after trying to add myself to audio group by: usermod -a -G audio USERNAME.

I would be grateful for any help.

Did you try prefacing the command with sudo? – J. Starnes Jan 03 '18 at 02:06 — J. Starnes, Jan 03 '18 at 02:06
sudo usermod -a -G audio USERNAME will work – Harsh Patel Jan 03 '18 at 05:25 — Harsh Patel, Jan 03 '18 at 05:25

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 03 '18 at 03:40

6

You need to run usermod as root, you can do this with sudo:

sudo usermod -a -G audio USERNAME

answered Jan 03 '18 at 03:40

nixpower

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19

For me sudo usermod -a -G audio USERNAME didnt work, it gave me this result: > usermod: Permission denied. > usermod: cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later. However sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyACM0 did the trick – Chuox Mar 09 '24 at 17:43

usermod: cannot lock /etc/passwd

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