Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3217 mails)

[Dylan <dylan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thursday 18 Mar 2004 18:30 pm, Keith Powell wrote:
> For some unknown reason, my "user" password appears to have got
> corrupted.
<SNIP>
> How can I change my password without knowing what it is?

Log in as root and use yast>security and users>edit user settings to 
change your user password.

>
> I have thought of creating a new user (say, keith2) and then moving
> all my settings and files to the new user, deleting the original user
> and then changing "keith2" to "keith". It's long winded, and I am not
> certain it would work.

It wouldn't be quite that easy as you have user permissions to consider, 
and anyway it's not necessary as root can change anyone's password.

>
> My user password must be in a file, somewhere. If so, as root, I
> could probably edit it to what it should be.

It's only stored in an encrypted file (/etc/shadow) which you shouldn't 
edit directly.

HTH
Dylan

-- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little 
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." 
                                  -Benjamin Franklin