Subject: `setup-user` Does Not Create a Home Directory After Install

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2025 18:38:46 +0000

When using `setup-user` interactively or via flags, then install the 
system onto a disk using `setup-disk`, the user's home directory is not 
created when booting into the disk.

If you try to login as the user, you will be given the error message 
`login: can't change directory to '/home/alice': No such file or 
directory`. When using `ls /home`, nothing will be there. I've had 
issues when using `adduser` instead too, even with `-h`. It does seem to 
create a home directory when you use `setup-alpine` however.

Is this some kind of bug? Is there something in the docs I overlooked?

---

From: Rolf <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2025 22:22:51 +0200

Dear jms

Perhaps you could try changing the order of the steps you did?

The docs recommend installing the system first, and then, as a second
step, creating "a normal, non-root user":
https://docs.alpinelinux.org/user-handbook/0.1a/Working/post-install.html

Best regards

Rolf