pam_mkhomedir 8 Linux-PAM Manual pam_mkhomedir PAM module to create users home directory pam_mkhomedir.so silent umask=mode skel=skeldir The pam_mkhomedir PAM module will create a users home directory if it does not exist when the session begins. This allows users to be present in central database (such as NIS, kerberos or LDAP) without using a distributed file system or pre-creating a large number of directories. The skeleton directory (usually /etc/skel/) is used to copy default files and also set's a umask for the creation. The new users home directory will not be removed after logout of the user. silent Don't print informative messages. umask=mask The user file-creation mask is set to mask. The default value of mask is 0022. skel=/path/to/skel/directory Indicate an alternative skel directory to override the default /etc/skel. Only the session service is supported. PAM_BUF_ERR Memory buffer error. PAM_CRED_INSUFFICIENT Insufficient credentials to access authentication data. PAM_PERM_DENIED Not enough permissions to create the new directory or read the skel directory. PAM_USER_UNKNOWN User not known to the underlying authentication module. PAM_SUCCESS Environment variables were set. /etc/skel Default skel directory A sample /etc/pam.d/login file: auth requisite pam_securetty.so auth sufficient pam_ldap.so auth required pam_unix.so auth required pam_nologin.so account sufficient pam_ldap.so account required pam_unix.so password required pam_unix.so session required pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel/ umask=0022 session required pam_unix.so session optional pam_lastlog.so session optional pam_mail.so standard pam.d5 , pam8 . pam_mkhomedir was written by Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@debian.org>.