Enabling users to sudo in CentOS 7. This post assumes you need to create a new user for the task AND that the wheel group is enabled in the /etc/sudoers file.
Somehow, you’ll end up a the CLi, be that an SSH client, via Terminal at the GUI directly on the box, using your mobile device or whatever floats your particular boat. Remember to replace USERNAME with the actual username you want to use.
First up, add the user
useradd USERNAME
And then set the password.
passwd USERNAME
You’ll need to set the password and confirm it here, look out for any warnings or errors…
Now we can add the user to the wheel group
usermod -aG wheel USERNAME
And that that. Open a new session, login as the new user and try someting like
cat /etc/sudoers
and you should see.
cat: /etc/sudoers: Permission denied
Change the command to be
sudo cat /etc/sudoers
You should then be prompted for your sudo password (login password) and be granted access to view the file, or run any other root command you require.
You may find that the wheel group is ot enabled in the sudoers file. if so, as a root user open the file for editing (I prefer nano, use whatever you like)
nano /etc/sudoers
and find the following line.
#%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
remove the preceding # so the line reads.
%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
Use CTRL+O to save the file and CTRL+X to exit the editor (in nano), then try to sudo as the new user in a new session.