How to make Ubuntu unusable Let's add your user to some group but type 'usermod -G' instead of -aG (which is more useful in most cases). -G here fully replaces list of user's groups while 'usermod -aG' adds group to the current list of user's groups. $ id uid=1000(vall) gid=1000(vall) groups=1000(vall),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo), 30(dip),46(plugdev),120(lpadmin),132(lxd),133(sambashare) $ sudo usermod -G root vall Password: $ Relogin for the changes to take effect and... $ sudo someprogram [sudo] password for vall: vall is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported. $ id uid=1000(vall) gid=1000(vall) groups=0(root) $ su Password: su: Authentication failure $ Since Ubuntu has root account locked by default and for now you are not in sudo group you can't trivially elevate your privileges anymore. =) Done!