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KC 33.1: No mention of using passwd to lock password

dkarrdkarr Posts: 40
in LFS201 Class Forum

In KC 33.1, it asks for the various ways an account can be locked. One of the required choices is "use the passwd tool to lock the password". I scanned and rescanned the content for this chapter, and this is not mentioned anywhere. I see from the "passwd" man page that "passwd -l" does this, but again, this isn't mentioned in the content.

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  • saqman2060saqman2060 Posts: 777
    dkarr wrote:
    In KC 33.1, it asks for the various ways an account can be locked. One of the required choices is "use the passwd tool to lock the password". I scanned and rescanned the content for this chapter, and this is not mentioned anywhere. I see from the "passwd" man page that "passwd -l" does this, but again, this isn't mentioned in the content.


    What is the entire question on this KC? What does it say word for word? An account can be locked from the login prompt, "on a shell", or from a login window, "graphical desktop manager", if the system detects a number of failed login attempts. Is the question in this KC asking for an account can be manually locked?
  • rchenzhengrchenzheng Posts: 36
    edited January 2016
    It is actually mentioned by using usermod but either way works.


    Two of the many ways:

    usermod -l jimbo

    or setting the account to expire in the past

    usermod -e 1996-01-01 jimbo

    or chage or modifying the passwd (/bin/nologin) or shadow (adding !!) file using vipw or passwd -l.

    Probably thought of putting usermod instead of passwd or viceversa.

  • NYCJacobNYCJacob Posts: 19
    Is there a difference between locking the account and locking the password?
  • saqman2060saqman2060 Posts: 777
    edited January 2016
    NYCJacob wrote:
    Is there a difference between locking the account and locking the password?

    I would assume that there would be no difference. After some research, I have come to understand that locking an account keeps a user from logging in no matter what other methods of logging in they try to use, e.g, ssh login.

    Locking a password keeps the user from logging in using the associated password. However this may not keep them from logging in using other means.

    So in conclusion, locking an account and locking a password are two different things. Read this forum on CentOS for further details.

    Two way to lock a unix/linux login account
  • luisviveropenaluisviveropena Posts: 333
    Hi dkarr,

    If you want I can inform the person in charge of your claim, but I think it is expected from any student to do some little research, and 'man passwd' means that. It's also a very simple operation.

    Regards,
    Luis.
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