[arch-general] user management error

Readers, A previously existing /home directory was mounted into the file system during the installation process; this directory contained files in a directory 'a'. A user was created from the root user account: useradd -M -p [password] -s /bin/bash [username'a'] After reboot, the system is restarted as root because the user 'a' is stated to not exist. The command 'cat /etc/passwd' reveals a password 'x', but this is not the password that was entered. How to solve this error?