Redhat 6.1 Password Change

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Tue, Jun 22, 2004 at 09:33:43PM +0000, Aaron Rykhus wrote:
> >From: Bob McClure Jr <robertmcclure at earthlink.net>
> >Reply-To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux 
> ><redhat-install-list at redhat.com>
> >To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux <redhat-install-list at redhat.com>
> >Subject: Re: Redhat 6.1 Password Change
> >Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 16:29:24 -0500
> >
> >> >You're using a very ancient version of RedHat.  I seem to recall some
> >> >problem with password but don't recall the exact nature of it.  I have
> >> >seen passwd carp about your choice of password but go ahead and set it
> >> >anyway.  Are you getting any odd messages when you run passwd?
> >>
> >> When I run passwd it says "Enter UNIX password"
> >>
> >> >I presume you are root when you run passwd to change the user's
> >> >password.
> >> >
> >> >Cheers,
> >> >--
> >> >Bob McClure, Jr.
> >
> >Well, yes, that's the prompt.  When you enter the password twice, does
> >it cough up any errors or warnings?
> >
> >Cheers,
> >--
> >Bob McClure, Jr.
> 
> 
> Just "login invalid"

That does not compute.  I wanted to know what carps come from running
 "passwd" to change the user's password.

If that is a newly created user (even if hand-entered into
/etc/passwd), root (not any mere mortal user) must run "passwd
<userid>" to set userid's password.  You will be prompted to enter the
new password, and then enter it again.  Then you can log out as root
and try logging in as the new user.  Or you can "su - <userid>".

So, if the new user is "foobar", you (as root) will run

  passwd foobar

and provide the new password twice.  To test it:

  su - foobar

It will ask you for password, and if all is well, you will get a shell
prompt of some kind.  To return to root's shell, just enter "exit" or
Ctrl-D.

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure at earthlink.net  http://www.bobcatos.com
Prayer should be our first resource, not our last resort.