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How to change the username displayed within terminal window on Linux Mint?

I am trying to change my current username on Linux Mint that shows up when I open a terminal window.

Currently:

john@myLinux

I want to change to:

gary@myLinux

I have tried:

(1) Start -> Settings -> Account Detail and altered the 'name' field.

(2) The steps mentioned here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/34074/how-do-i-change-my-username

(3) Altering the passwd file: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/understanding-etcpasswd-file-format/

Option #3 seems to affect the username displaying in the terminal window but causes issues with logging in(my password becomes incorrect).

How can I successfully change the username that is displayed in my terminal window on Linux Mint OS?

Solution

  • This assumes you are using bash, and might not work for a different shell.

    This will only change the terminal prompt text, it will not update your user account or change any other system files.

    1. in a terminal type DEFAULT=$PS1
    2. next type PS1='gary@\h\$ '
    3. last of all, if you want to return to your default prompt type PS1=$DEFAULT

    Note 1: Make sure to save these settings in your .bashrc file under the home directory to have changes persist across terminal sessions.

    Note 2: In step 2, \h tells the bash prompt to print out the computer hostname, the \$ prints out show the (#) symbol if you're ROOT otherwise show the ($) symbol.

    More information can be found here: https://www.howtogeek.com/307701/how-to-customize-and-colorize-your-bash-prompt/