Ubuntu 12.04: Unable to add or delete a user named 'mysql'

Posted by Afaque H on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Afaque H
Published on 2013-10-23T09:44:50Z Indexed on 2013/10/23 9:59 UTC
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mysql

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ubuntu-12.04

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useradd

I am trying to install MySql on Ubuntu 12.04 but the installation is failing with the error: "Can't change to run as user 'mysql'. Check if the user 'mysql' exits."

So I go ahead type in the command : 'cat /etc/passwd | grep mysql' and result is null.

I try to add a user 'mysql' by issuing the command 'useradd mysql'/. But it fails with the message: 'useradd: user 'mysql' already exists'.

When I try to delete the user 'mysql' using the command 'userdel mysql' it also fails with the message "userdel: cannot remove entry 'mysql' from /etc/passwd."

Can anyone explain me what's going on and suggest a solution.

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