How to manually add Linux user into Wheel (bash: /usr/bin/su: Permission denied error)

Users may receive following the following error after "su -" or "sudo" command:

It means that user doesn't have permission for root. We understand that you wish to add second layer of protection by creating another, probably non-cPanel user for SSH access. Good idea, especially on cPanel DNSOnly Servers!

Let's create new Linux user "nyh7" (CentOS or CloudLinux) then add it to "wheel" group. Please login under user root and password (we're using "Putty" client) and then:

useradd -G wheel nyh7

Then set password for new user:

passwd nyh7

Type strong password two times. Password must contain letters, upper letters, numbers and special chars like "%&%$@!~".

Open new Shell window then login under newly created user "nyh7". Then type "su -" and root password. After that you can safely disable "PermitRootLogin no" option inside /etc/ssh/sshd_config