1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//Samba-Team//DTD DocBook V4.2-Based Variant V1.0//EN" "http://www.samba.org/samba/DTD/samba-doc">
3 <refentry id="smbpasswd.8">
6 <refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
7 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
8 <refmiscinfo class="source">Samba</refmiscinfo>
9 <refmiscinfo class="manual">System Administration tools</refmiscinfo>
10 <refmiscinfo class="version">3.6</refmiscinfo>
15 <refname>smbpasswd</refname>
16 <refpurpose>change a user's SMB password</refpurpose>
21 <command>smbpasswd</command>
22 <arg choice="opt">-a</arg>
23 <arg choice="opt">-c <config file></arg>
24 <arg choice="opt">-x</arg>
25 <arg choice="opt">-d</arg>
26 <arg choice="opt">-e</arg>
27 <arg choice="opt">-D debuglevel</arg>
28 <arg choice="opt">-n</arg>
29 <arg choice="opt">-r <remote machine></arg>
30 <arg choice="opt">-R <name resolve order></arg>
31 <arg choice="opt">-m</arg>
32 <arg choice="opt">-U username[%password]</arg>
33 <arg choice="opt">-h</arg>
34 <arg choice="opt">-s</arg>
35 <arg choice="opt">-w pass</arg>
36 <arg choice="opt">-W</arg>
37 <arg choice="opt">-i</arg>
38 <arg choice="opt">-L</arg>
39 <arg choice="opt">username</arg>
44 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
46 <para>This tool is part of the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>samba</refentrytitle>
47 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> suite.</para>
49 <para>The smbpasswd program has several different
50 functions, depending on whether it is run by the <emphasis>root</emphasis> user
51 or not. When run as a normal user it allows the user to change
52 the password used for their SMB sessions on any machines that store
53 SMB passwords. </para>
55 <para>By default (when run with no arguments) it will attempt to
56 change the current user's SMB password on the local machine. This is
57 similar to the way the <command>passwd(1)</command> program works. <command>
58 smbpasswd</command> differs from how the passwd program works
59 however in that it is not <emphasis>setuid root</emphasis> but works in
60 a client-server mode and communicates with a
61 locally running <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbd</refentrytitle>
62 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>. As a consequence in order for this to
63 succeed the smbd daemon must be running on the local machine. On a
64 UNIX machine the encrypted SMB passwords are usually stored in
65 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
66 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file. </para>
68 <para>When run by an ordinary user with no options, smbpasswd
69 will prompt them for their old SMB password and then ask them
70 for their new password twice, to ensure that the new password
71 was typed correctly. No passwords will be echoed on the screen
72 whilst being typed. If you have a blank SMB password (specified by
73 the string "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd file) then just press
74 the <Enter> key when asked for your old password. </para>
76 <para>smbpasswd can also be used by a normal user to change their
77 SMB password on remote machines, such as Windows NT Primary Domain
78 Controllers. See the (<parameter>-r</parameter>) and <parameter>-U</parameter> options
81 <para>When run by root, smbpasswd allows new users to be added
82 and deleted in the smbpasswd file, as well as allows changes to
83 the attributes of the user in this file to be made. When run by root, <command>
84 smbpasswd</command> accesses the local smbpasswd file
85 directly, thus enabling changes to be made even if smbd is not
90 <title>OPTIONS</title>
95 This option specifies that the username following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the new
96 password typed (type <Enter> for the old password). This option is ignored if the username following
97 already exists in the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change password command. Note that the
98 default passdb backends require the user to already exist in the system password file (usually
99 <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>), else the request to add the user will fail.
102 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd
103 as root. </para></listitem>
110 This option can be used to specify the path and file name of the &smb.conf; configuration file when it
111 is important to use other than the default file and / or location.
119 This option specifies that the username following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file.
123 This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
131 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
132 should be <constant>disabled</constant> in the local smbpasswd
133 file. This is done by writing a <constant>'D'</constant> flag
134 into the account control space in the smbpasswd file. Once this
135 is done all attempts to authenticate via SMB using this username
138 <para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format (pre-Samba 2.0
139 format) there is no space in the user's password entry to write
140 this information and the command will FAIL. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
141 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details on the 'old' and new password file formats.
144 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
145 root.</para></listitem>
151 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
152 should be <constant>enabled</constant> in the local smbpasswd file,
153 if the account was previously disabled. If the account was not
154 disabled this option has no effect. Once the account is enabled then
155 the user will be able to authenticate via SMB once again. </para>
157 <para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format, then <command>
158 smbpasswd</command> will FAIL to enable the account.
159 See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
160 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
161 details on the 'old' and new password file formats. </para>
163 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
170 <term>-D debuglevel</term>
171 <listitem><para><replaceable>debuglevel</replaceable> is an integer
172 from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified
175 <para>The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the
176 log files about the activities of smbpasswd. At level 0, only
177 critical errors and serious warnings will be logged. </para>
179 <para>Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log
180 data, and should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels
181 above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate
182 HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
190 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
191 should have their password set to null (i.e. a blank password) in
192 the local smbpasswd file. This is done by writing the string "NO
193 PASSWORD" as the first part of the first password stored in the
194 smbpasswd file. </para>
196 <para>Note that to allow users to logon to a Samba server once
197 the password has been set to "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd
198 file the administrator must set the following parameter in the [global]
199 section of the <filename>smb.conf</filename> file : </para>
201 <para><command>null passwords = yes</command></para>
203 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
204 root.</para></listitem>
210 <term>-r remote machine name</term>
211 <listitem><para>This option allows a user to specify what machine
212 they wish to change their password on. Without this parameter
213 smbpasswd defaults to the local host. The <replaceable>remote
214 machine name</replaceable> is the NetBIOS name of the SMB/CIFS
215 server to contact to attempt the password change. This name is
216 resolved into an IP address using the standard name resolution
217 mechanism in all programs of the Samba suite. See the <parameter>-R
218 name resolve order</parameter> parameter for details on changing
219 this resolving mechanism. </para>
221 <para>The username whose password is changed is that of the
222 current UNIX logged on user. See the <parameter>-U username</parameter>
223 parameter for details on changing the password for a different
226 <para>Note that if changing a Windows NT Domain password the
227 remote machine specified must be the Primary Domain Controller for
228 the domain (Backup Domain Controllers only have a read-only
229 copy of the user account database and will not allow the password
232 <para><emphasis>Note</emphasis> that Windows 95/98 do not have
233 a real password database so it is not possible to change passwords
234 specifying a Win95/98 machine as remote machine target. </para>
240 <term>-R name resolve order</term>
241 <listitem><para>This option allows the user of smbpasswd to determine
242 what name resolution services to use when looking up the NetBIOS
243 name of the host being connected to. </para>
245 <para>The options are :"lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They
246 cause names to be resolved as follows: </para>
248 <listitem><para><constant>lmhosts</constant>: Lookup an IP
249 address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in lmhosts has
250 no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lmhosts</refentrytitle>
251 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details) then
252 any name type matches for lookup.</para></listitem>
254 <listitem><para><constant>host</constant>: Do a standard host
255 name to IP address resolution, using the system <filename>/etc/hosts
256 </filename>, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution
257 is operating system depended for instance on IRIX or Solaris this
258 may be controlled by the <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>
259 file). Note that this method is only used if the NetBIOS name
260 type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type, otherwise
261 it is ignored.</para></listitem>
263 <listitem><para><constant>wins</constant>: Query a name with
264 the IP address listed in the <parameter>wins server</parameter>
265 parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method
266 will be ignored.</para></listitem>
268 <listitem><para><constant>bcast</constant>: Do a broadcast on
269 each of the known local interfaces listed in the
270 <parameter>interfaces</parameter> parameter. This is the least
271 reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the
272 target host being on a locally connected subnet.</para></listitem>
275 <para>The default order is <command>lmhosts, host, wins, bcast</command>
276 and without this parameter or any entry in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
277 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file the name resolution methods will
278 be attempted in this order. </para></listitem>
284 <listitem><para>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
285 being changed is a MACHINE account. Currently this is used
286 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.</para>
288 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
294 <term>-U username</term>
295 <listitem><para>This option may only be used in conjunction
296 with the <parameter>-r</parameter> option. When changing
297 a password on a remote machine it allows the user to specify
298 the user name on that machine whose password will be changed. It
299 is present to allow users who have different user names on
300 different systems to change these passwords. </para></listitem>
306 <listitem><para>This option prints the help string for <command>
307 smbpasswd</command>, selecting the correct one for running as root
308 or as an ordinary user. </para></listitem>
314 <listitem><para>This option causes smbpasswd to be silent (i.e.
315 not issue prompts) and to read its old and new passwords from
316 standard input, rather than from <filename>/dev/tty</filename>
317 (like the <command>passwd(1)</command> program does). This option
318 is to aid people writing scripts to drive smbpasswd</para>
324 <term>-w password</term>
325 <listitem><para>This parameter is only available if Samba
326 has been compiled with LDAP support. The <parameter>-w</parameter>
327 switch is used to specify the password to be used with the
328 <smbconfoption name="ldap admin dn"/>. Note that the password is stored in
329 the <filename>secrets.tdb</filename> and is keyed off
330 of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of <parameter>ldap
331 admin dn</parameter> ever changes, the password will need to be
332 manually updated as well.
339 <listitem><para><command>NOTE: </command> This option is same as "-w"
340 except that the password should be entered using stdin.
342 <para>This parameter is only available if Samba
343 has been compiled with LDAP support. The <parameter>-W</parameter>
344 switch is used to specify the password to be used with the
345 <smbconfoption name="ldap admin dn"/>. Note that the password is stored in
346 the <filename>secrets.tdb</filename> and is keyed off
347 of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of <parameter>ldap
348 admin dn</parameter> ever changes, the password will need to be
349 manually updated as well.
357 <listitem><para>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
358 being changed is an interdomain trust account. Currently this is used
359 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.
360 The account contains the info about another trusted domain.</para>
362 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
368 <listitem><para>Run in local mode.</para></listitem>
372 <term>username</term>
373 <listitem><para>This specifies the username for all of the
374 <emphasis>root only</emphasis> options to operate on. Only root
375 can specify this parameter as only root has the permission needed
376 to modify attributes directly in the local smbpasswd file.
386 <para>Since <command>smbpasswd</command> works in client-server
387 mode communicating with a local smbd for a non-root user then
388 the smbd daemon must be running for this to work. A common problem
389 is to add a restriction to the hosts that may access the <command>
390 smbd</command> running on the local machine by specifying either <parameter>allow
391 hosts</parameter> or <parameter>deny hosts</parameter> entry in
392 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
393 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file and neglecting to
394 allow "localhost" access to the smbd. </para>
396 <para>In addition, the smbpasswd command is only useful if Samba
397 has been set up to use encrypted passwords. </para>
402 <title>VERSION</title>
404 <para>This man page is correct for version 3 of the Samba suite.</para>
408 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
409 <para><citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
410 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>Samba</refentrytitle>
411 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
415 <title>AUTHOR</title>
417 <para>The original Samba software and related utilities
418 were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed
419 by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar
420 to the way the Linux kernel is developed.</para>
422 <para>The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer.
423 The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another
424 excellent piece of Open Source software, available at <ulink url="ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/">
425 ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/</ulink>) and updated for the Samba 2.0
426 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for
427 Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook XML 4.2
428 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.</para>