Problem Overview

• You need to give a normal user administrative (sudo) permissions in Linux, but modifying the sudoers file incorrectly can break sudo access or cause syntax errors.

• This guide explains the safest methods to add a user to sudoers using the wheel group or visudo, while preventing misconfiguration or system access issues.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you must have:

• Root access or an existing sudo-enabled account.
• Basic understanding of Linux users and groups.

Solutions

• Method-1: Add User to the Wheel Group
  • Use usermod command and add the user to wheel group [pythonlinuxhub is the sample username, use your username]

    • [root@pythonlinuxhub ~]# usermod -aG wheel pythonlinuxhub

  • Verify the user’s group membership
    

    • [root@pythonlinuxhub ~]# groups pythonlinuxhub
      pythonlinuxhub : pythonlinuxhub wheel
      [root@pythonlinuxhub ~]# su - pythonlinuxhub
      [pythonlinuxhub@pythonlinuxhub ~]$
      [pythonlinuxhub@pythonlinuxhub ~]$ whoami
      pythonlinuxhub

• Method-2: Grant access via visudo
  • Open the sudoers file safely

    • [root@pythonlinuxhub ~]#visudo

  • Add the following line in the bottom of the file

    • pythonlinuxhub ALL=(ALL) ALL

  • Save and exit, visudo will validate the file before applying changes.

Note: Always modify sudoers using visudo, it validates syntax before saving.