Where do I change my shell?
usermod -s /bin/zsh <username>
See man usermod
for more options.
Chris Browne's answer works well if you don't have access to the user and have root privileges.
If you want to change the default shell of your current user you can also use:
chsh -s /bin/ksh
More info
The login shell of a user is defined in a file (/etc/passwd
on Debian). This files has an entry for each user with the info entered at creation.
rahmu:x:1000:1000:My Nameisrahmu,,,:/home/rahmu:/bin/bash
anotheruser:x:1001:1001:,,,:/home/anotheruser:/bin/ksh
The last column is the login shell. It will be forked by the login program if successful.
However it is highly recommended that you do not modify this file by hand. You should use chsh
or usermod
whenever possible.
You can change your login shell with the chsh
command. As man chsh
notes, a normal user can only change the shell for their own account, while root can change the shell for all accounts.
/etc/shells
contains the pathnames of valid login shells. This file is queried by chsh
when it is invoked.
The instructions for using chsh
vary according to your UNIX flavour:
Linux:
chsh -s newshell
Solaris:
chsh newshell
HP-UX
chsh username newshell
AIX
chsh
This will start an interactive session where you are prompted for the full path to your new shell.
Reference: http://kb.iu.edu/data/benf.html