/etc/passwd

[denise gant]

since editing gimli's /etc/shadow file, my root password is no longer being accepted...

[janischaffin]

I had to revert to snapshot after editing gimli's paswword using vipw.

Isn't it bad form to allow users to not have passwords? I say as administrators we would deny such a request!

Did you use vipw?

[denise gant]

As a matter of fact, I did use vipw. Do you suppose that's the issue or was it a matter of which order you do it???

[Rich Simms]

Hi Denise,

There is a process to use to resolve these kinds of problems. It will require some more work on your part to make it happen.

For me this is what I would call a "can't duplicate" .... I cannot duplicate the issue you saw my own Benji VM. To pursue it further you will need to reproduce the issue again on your system and document the exact steps you used so the problem can be replicated on other systems.

The vipw command is [i]supposed[/i] to provide a reliable tool for editing /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. I've used vipw to remove Gimli's password without impacting root's ability to login. The root cause of this problem could be a defect (software bug) in vipw or pilot error.

To get to the root cause of this problem here is what I need you to do:

1) Make the problem happen again on your system.
2) Document the complete set of steps to to allow the problem to be replicated on another system.
3) If your root login is disabled again, try to boot up in single user mode and post your /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files on the forum so we can analyze them.

From looking at those files and being able to replicate the problem on another system we should be able to figure out the root cause of the problem.

- Rich