Sun VirtualBox

[SteveRiley]

This command should do the trick:

sudo usermod -G vboxusers yourusername

Note the capital G.

I just noticed that now I can't log in into anything requiring my password!!

I suspect it's because usermod is a more dangerous command to use for this. Read carefully the output from man usermod:

-G, --groups GROUP1[,GROUP2,...[,GROUPN]]]
    A list of supplementary groups which the user is also a member of. Each group is separated from the next
    by a comma, with no intervening whitespace. The groups are subject to the same restrictions as the group
    given with the -g option.

    [b]If the user is currently a member of a group which is not listed, the user will be removed from the group.[/b]
    This behaviour can be changed via the -a option, which appends the user to the current supplementary group
    list.

Note the part I highlighted in bold. The correct command would include the a option as well as the G:

sudo usermod -aG vboxusers [i]yourusername[/i]

An alternate mechanism is the adduser command. It's probably mentally safer to remember this one, because it works as expected and without any options:

NAME
       adduser, addgroup - add a user or group to the system

SYNOPSIS
       adduser [options] user group

   Add an existing user to an existing group
       If called with two non-option arguments, adduser will add an existing user to an existing group.

Now, we need to get your user account back to normal. Here's what my user account belongs to:

steve@x1:~$ [b]groups[/b]
steve adm cdrom sudo audio dip video plugdev lpadmin sambashare admin

If you can obtain root somehow, then you can reconstruct the group membership of your user account.

[SecretCode]

I was sure I had copied that from an example on a web page ... yes, the -a option was necessary. Sorry :blush:

What does groups output for you? For me it's

joe adm dialout cdrom plugdev lpadmin admin sambashare vboxusers

If nothing else you can boot to a recovery mode console and type

usermod -g [I]yourusername[/I] [I]yourusername[/I]
usermod -a -G adm,dialout,cdrom,plugdev,lpadmin,admin,sambashare,vboxusers [I]yourusername[/I]

... and perhaps somebody else should check my syntax before you go ahead!

[ardvark71]

What does groups output for you? For me it's

joe adm dialout cdrom plugdev lpadmin admin sambashare vboxusers

Hi guys...

It's, ok. SecretCode, no worries, mistakes happen. :-)

The output of "groups" is:

aaron@aaron:~$ groups
aaron vboxusers

Doesn't look very good at all. :-(

Regards...

[SecretCode]

Can you get to recovery mode from GRUB? That should enable you to sort out anything.

[ardvark71]

Can you get to recovery mode from GRUB? That should enable you to sort out anything.

Let me give it a shot...

[ardvark71]

Hi SecretCode....

The commands you gave did the trick, it seems to be fixed now! (whew, breathes a sigh of relief) ;-)

Thank you, guys, for your help! :-)

Regards...

[SteveRiley]

Currently, your supplementary group list shows only "virtualbox" because usermod -G removes a user account from all other supplementary groups. You need to manually re-create your group membership.

First obtain root. Once you do this, then follow SecretCode's suggestion with the two usermod commands.

[ardvark71]

First obtain root. Once you do this, then follow SecretCode's suggestion with the two usermod commands.

Hi Steve...

Thank you very much for the information you provided. I did get into recovery mode and executed the commands that SecretCode gave. Everything seems to be working right again. :-)

I think we all learned something here tonight, I know I did: Usermod can be dangerous...proceed with utmost caution! :-)

Regards...

[SecretCode]

I think we all learned something here tonight, I know I did: SecretCode can be dangerous...proceed with utmost caution! :-)

I corrected your post

[ardvark71]

I corrected your post

Please don't worry, mistakes do happen and I certainly do not hold it against you in any way. I appreciated your help in getting things back to normal. :-) (high five smiley here)

For all I know, there may have been times where I gave advice that was incorrect and it messed up something on their system, too. ;-)

Regards...

[SteveRiley]

For all I know, there may have been times where I gave advice that was incorrect and it messed up something on their system, too. ;-)

This is one of the few things makes me feel truly guilty...giving someone bad advice that trashes a system.

[GreyGeek]

Join the club, SR. I've trashed a few myself. No good deed goes unpunished!

[MoonRise]

Same here!