How to change the default aws instance user?

petulia3478

Depending on which OS AMI you used you create a new instance, it assigns it a default user. To change this user account follow this link along side this article.

Note: Ideally you will want some like of federated login method.

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/managing-users.html

Login as the ec2-user.

$ sudo adduser  <name of user>
$ sudo su - <username>
$ mkdir .ssh
$ chmod 700 .ssh
$ touch .ssh/authorized_keys
$ chmod 600 .ssh/authorized_keys
$ vi .ssh/authorized_keys

Paste in the ssh key same one as the ec2-user

Add user to /etc/sudoers.d/90-cloud-init-users

Test it out. If all good remove the ec2-user account

Login as new user

$ sudo userdel -r ec2-user

Remove the ec2-user entry.

$ sudo vi /etc/sudoers.d/90-cloud-init-users