su: User not known to the underlying authentication module

Question

I created a new user in linux by running useradd command:

david@machineA:~> sudo useradd golden
david@machineA:~> sudo su - golden
Creating directory '/home/golden'.
$ ^C
$ exit
su: User not known to the underlying authentication module

But when I try to switch to that user, I am seeing an error: su: User not known to the underlying authentication module

What wrong I am doing?

Answer 1

The useradd program doesn't add a password entry automatically, whereas adduser prompts for directory information (name, phone, office etc) as well as prompts to set a password for your newly created user.