Usermod: user CurrentName is currently used by process (Linux)

HeelpBook@heelpbook

116 Posts

#1 · February 23, 2018, 10:21 am

I am trying to change my username, as per advice here however after running the following command:

CurrentName@HostName ~ $ sudo usermod -l TheNameIWantToChange -d /home/TheNameIWantToChange -m CurrentName

Terminal responds with:

CurrentName@HostName ~ $ usermod: user CurrentName is currently used by process 2491

And the username stays the same. Does anybody know how I could fix this and change my username after all?

HeelpBook@heelpbook

116 PostsTopic Author

#2 · February 23, 2018, 10:22 am

If you can't kill the process without it restarting, combine the command kill and usermod, for example (specifying the correct process ID or PID number):

kill -9 23162 && sudo usermod -l TheNameIWantToChange -d /home/TheNameIWantToChange -m CurrentName

Kind regards.