post install script oddity

On SLES9 I have a AutoYaST post install script that runs: useradd -m -p '$1$J1n.X/QK$hj1vaqARqf.O/RWisMGRn1' visitor (this is a test account, on isolated, non-production test systems that are reinstalled daily with a variety of operating systems) The home directory /home/vistor is created and populated, BUT the very odd thing is there is no entry in the /etc/passwd file. All the files in the home directory have their ownership set to UID 1000. No error messages show up in the /var/adm/autoinstall/* log files. Things work fine on SUSE Linux 9.1 and SLES8. Suggestions welcome. Dax Kelson