Restoring passwd and shadow files

[Scot L. Harris]

On Wed, 2004-08-18 at 20:37, Kevin Old wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm currently moving data from one machine to another and would like
> to move over all my users logins with ease.  I've never done it
> before, but I assume if I copy all of these files from my old server
> to my new one, all should work well.
> 
> Here's what I *think* I should move:
> 
> /etc/passwd
> /etc/passwd-
> /etc/gshadow
> /etc/gshadow-
> /etc/gshadow.lock
> /etc/shadow
> /etc/shadow-
> 
> Is this correct?  I'm moving a RH9 box to another RH9 box and a FC1 to
> and FC2 box.  I figured it should be the same for each of the three
> versions.
> 
> Anyone actually done this and can offer help?

You really only want to copy the user account information in the
passwd/shadow/group files.  If you copy the files whole you will most
likely have standard accounts on one system that either don't exist on
the other or the UIDs/GIDs may have changed.  This could cause problems
with permissions on any number of critical system files.

Also you should verify that the UID/GID information on the user account
information matches when you move the users data to the new system. 
This will prevent a lot of permission type problems that you could run
into.

-- 
Scot L. Harris
webid at cfl.rr.com

Hurricane Charley survivor
Confirmed 105 MPH winds
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