# Cannot create user

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/cannot-create-user/27272>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [April 13, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/cannot-create-user/27272 "2018-04-13T14:18:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Werner\_Flamme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@Werner\_Flamme](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Werner_Flamme)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/cannot-create-user/27272/1 "2018-04-13T14:18:12Z")

</div>

Hi,

can someone please show me what's wrong?

- name: create one single user  
&nbsp;&nbsp;user:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;user: "someguy"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;password: "something secret here"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;group: "users"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;state: "present"

does not create a user, but invokes usermod instead of useradd. Of  
course, I get a message telling me that the user does not exist in  
/etc/passwd. This is very correct.

Using no quotation marks around present or leaving them away completely  
does not help.

I'm running ansible 2.5.0 on python version = 2.7.13.

Regards,  
Werner

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Werner\_Flamme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@Werner\_Flamme](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Werner_Flamme)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/cannot-create-user/27272/2 "2018-04-13T14:30:12Z")

</div>

Werner Flamme [13.04.2018 16:18]:

> Hi,
> 
> can someone please show me what's wrong?
> 
> - name: create one single user  
> &nbsp;&nbsp;user:  
> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;user: "someguy"  
> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;password: "something secret here"  
> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;group: "users"  
> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;state: "present"
> 
> does not create a user, but invokes usermod instead of useradd. Of  
> course, I get a message telling me that the user does not exist in  
> /etc/passwd. This is very correct.
> 
> Using no quotation marks around present or leaving them away completely  
> does not help.
> 
> I'm running ansible 2.5.0 on python version = 2.7.13.
> 
> Regards,  
> Werner

First solution: use shorter user name. It works when "someguy" is  
replaced with "exer". Originally, we use an 8 character user name.

Unfortunately, the usernames are not designed by me... I have to use  
usernames with up to 8 characters.

Regards,  
Werner

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Werner\_Flamme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@Werner\_Flamme](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Werner_Flamme)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/cannot-create-user/27272/3 "2018-04-13T14:56:21Z")

</div>

Werner Flamme [13.04.2018 16:30]:

> Werner Flamme [13.04.2018 16:18]:
> 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > can someone please show me what's wrong?
> > 
> > - name: create one single user  
> > &nbsp;&nbsp;user:  
> > &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;user: "someguy"  
> > &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;password: "something secret here"  
> > &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;group: "users"  
> > &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;state: "present"
> > 
> > does not create a user, but invokes usermod instead of useradd. Of  
> > course, I get a message telling me that the user does not exist in  
> > /etc/passwd. This is very correct.
> > 
> > Using no quotation marks around present or leaving them away completely  
> > does not help.
> > 
> > I'm running ansible 2.5.0 on python version = 2.7.13.
> > 
> > Regards,  
> > Werner
> 
> First solution: use shorter user name. It works when "someguy" is  
> replaced with "exer". Originally, we use an 8 character user name.
> 
> Unfortunately, the usernames are not designed by me... I have to use  
> usernames with up to 8 characters.
> 
> Regards,  
> Werner

Note to self: Do not try to create a user locally that is available via  
LDAP when the system has a LDAP login... \*cough\*

Thanks for looking.

Werner