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>
12 <refname>smbpasswd</refname>
13 <refpurpose>change a user's SMB password</refpurpose>
18 <command>smbpasswd</command>
19 <arg choice="opt">-a</arg>
20 <arg choice="opt">-c <config file></arg>
21 <arg choice="opt">-x</arg>
22 <arg choice="opt">-d</arg>
23 <arg choice="opt">-e</arg>
24 <arg choice="opt">-D debuglevel</arg>
25 <arg choice="opt">-n</arg>
26 <arg choice="opt">-r <remote machine></arg>
27 <arg choice="opt">-R <name resolve order></arg>
28 <arg choice="opt">-m</arg>
29 <arg choice="opt">-U username[%password]</arg>
30 <arg choice="opt">-h</arg>
31 <arg choice="opt">-s</arg>
32 <arg choice="opt">-w pass</arg>
33 <arg choice="opt">-i</arg>
34 <arg choice="opt">-L</arg>
35 <arg choice="opt">username</arg>
40 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
42 <para>This tool is part of the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>samba</refentrytitle>
43 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> suite.</para>
45 <para>The smbpasswd program has several different
46 functions, depending on whether it is run by the <emphasis>root</emphasis> user
47 or not. When run as a normal user it allows the user to change
48 the password used for their SMB sessions on any machines that store
49 SMB passwords. </para>
51 <para>By default (when run with no arguments) it will attempt to
52 change the current user's SMB password on the local machine. This is
53 similar to the way the <command>passwd(1)</command> program works. <command>
54 smbpasswd</command> differs from how the passwd program works
55 however in that it is not <emphasis>setuid root</emphasis> but works in
56 a client-server mode and communicates with a
57 locally running <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbd</refentrytitle>
58 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>. As a consequence in order for this to
59 succeed the smbd daemon must be running on the local machine. On a
60 UNIX machine the encrypted SMB passwords are usually stored in
61 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
62 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file. </para>
64 <para>When run by an ordinary user with no options, smbpasswd
65 will prompt them for their old SMB password and then ask them
66 for their new password twice, to ensure that the new password
67 was typed correctly. No passwords will be echoed on the screen
68 whilst being typed. If you have a blank SMB password (specified by
69 the string "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd file) then just press
70 the <Enter> key when asked for your old password. </para>
72 <para>smbpasswd can also be used by a normal user to change their
73 SMB password on remote machines, such as Windows NT Primary Domain
74 Controllers. See the (<parameter>-r</parameter>) and <parameter>-U</parameter> options
77 <para>When run by root, smbpasswd allows new users to be added
78 and deleted in the smbpasswd file, as well as allows changes to
79 the attributes of the user in this file to be made. When run by root, <command>
80 smbpasswd</command> accesses the local smbpasswd file
81 directly, thus enabling changes to be made even if smbd is not
86 <title>OPTIONS</title>
91 This option specifies that the username following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the new
92 password typed (type <Enter> for the old password). This option is ignored if the username following
93 already exists in the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change password command. Note that the
94 default passdb backends require the user to already exist in the system password file (usually
95 <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>), else the request to add the user will fail.
98 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd
99 as root. </para></listitem>
106 This option can be used to specify the path and file name of the &smb.conf; configuration file when it
107 is important to use other than the default file and / or location.
115 This option specifies that the username following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file.
119 This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
127 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
128 should be <constant>disabled</constant> in the local smbpasswd
129 file. This is done by writing a <constant>'D'</constant> flag
130 into the account control space in the smbpasswd file. Once this
131 is done all attempts to authenticate via SMB using this username
134 <para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format (pre-Samba 2.0
135 format) there is no space in the user's password entry to write
136 this information and the command will FAIL. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
137 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details on the 'old' and new password file formats.
140 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
141 root.</para></listitem>
147 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
148 should be <constant>enabled</constant> in the local smbpasswd file,
149 if the account was previously disabled. If the account was not
150 disabled this option has no effect. Once the account is enabled then
151 the user will be able to authenticate via SMB once again. </para>
153 <para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format, then <command>
154 smbpasswd</command> will FAIL to enable the account.
155 See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
156 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
157 details on the 'old' and new password file formats. </para>
159 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
166 <term>-D debuglevel</term>
167 <listitem><para><replaceable>debuglevel</replaceable> is an integer
168 from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified
171 <para>The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the
172 log files about the activities of smbpasswd. At level 0, only
173 critical errors and serious warnings will be logged. </para>
175 <para>Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log
176 data, and should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels
177 above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate
178 HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
186 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
187 should have their password set to null (i.e. a blank password) in
188 the local smbpasswd file. This is done by writing the string "NO
189 PASSWORD" as the first part of the first password stored in the
190 smbpasswd file. </para>
192 <para>Note that to allow users to logon to a Samba server once
193 the password has been set to "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd
194 file the administrator must set the following parameter in the [global]
195 section of the <filename>smb.conf</filename> file : </para>
197 <para><command>null passwords = yes</command></para>
199 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
200 root.</para></listitem>
206 <term>-r remote machine name</term>
207 <listitem><para>This option allows a user to specify what machine
208 they wish to change their password on. Without this parameter
209 smbpasswd defaults to the local host. The <replaceable>remote
210 machine name</replaceable> is the NetBIOS name of the SMB/CIFS
211 server to contact to attempt the password change. This name is
212 resolved into an IP address using the standard name resolution
213 mechanism in all programs of the Samba suite. See the <parameter>-R
214 name resolve order</parameter> parameter for details on changing
215 this resolving mechanism. </para>
217 <para>The username whose password is changed is that of the
218 current UNIX logged on user. See the <parameter>-U username</parameter>
219 parameter for details on changing the password for a different
222 <para>Note that if changing a Windows NT Domain password the
223 remote machine specified must be the Primary Domain Controller for
224 the domain (Backup Domain Controllers only have a read-only
225 copy of the user account database and will not allow the password
228 <para><emphasis>Note</emphasis> that Windows 95/98 do not have
229 a real password database so it is not possible to change passwords
230 specifying a Win95/98 machine as remote machine target. </para>
236 <term>-R name resolve order</term>
237 <listitem><para>This option allows the user of smbpasswd to determine
238 what name resolution services to use when looking up the NetBIOS
239 name of the host being connected to. </para>
241 <para>The options are :"lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They
242 cause names to be resolved as follows: </para>
244 <listitem><para><constant>lmhosts</constant>: Lookup an IP
245 address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in lmhosts has
246 no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lmhosts</refentrytitle>
247 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details) then
248 any name type matches for lookup.</para></listitem>
250 <listitem><para><constant>host</constant>: Do a standard host
251 name to IP address resolution, using the system <filename>/etc/hosts
252 </filename>, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution
253 is operating system depended for instance on IRIX or Solaris this
254 may be controlled by the <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>
255 file). Note that this method is only used if the NetBIOS name
256 type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type, otherwise
257 it is ignored.</para></listitem>
259 <listitem><para><constant>wins</constant>: Query a name with
260 the IP address listed in the <parameter>wins server</parameter>
261 parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method
262 will be ignored.</para></listitem>
264 <listitem><para><constant>bcast</constant>: Do a broadcast on
265 each of the known local interfaces listed in the
266 <parameter>interfaces</parameter> parameter. This is the least
267 reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the
268 target host being on a locally connected subnet.</para></listitem>
271 <para>The default order is <command>lmhosts, host, wins, bcast</command>
272 and without this parameter or any entry in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
273 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file the name resolution methods will
274 be attempted in this order. </para></listitem>
280 <listitem><para>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
281 being changed is a MACHINE account. Currently this is used
282 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.</para>
284 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
290 <term>-U username</term>
291 <listitem><para>This option may only be used in conjunction
292 with the <parameter>-r</parameter> option. When changing
293 a password on a remote machine it allows the user to specify
294 the user name on that machine whose password will be changed. It
295 is present to allow users who have different user names on
296 different systems to change these passwords. </para></listitem>
302 <listitem><para>This option prints the help string for <command>
303 smbpasswd</command>, selecting the correct one for running as root
304 or as an ordinary user. </para></listitem>
310 <listitem><para>This option causes smbpasswd to be silent (i.e.
311 not issue prompts) and to read its old and new passwords from
312 standard input, rather than from <filename>/dev/tty</filename>
313 (like the <command>passwd(1)</command> program does). This option
314 is to aid people writing scripts to drive smbpasswd</para>
320 <term>-w password</term>
321 <listitem><para>This parameter is only available if Samba
322 has been compiled with LDAP support. The <parameter>-w</parameter>
323 switch is used to specify the password to be used with the
324 <smbconfoption name="ldap admin dn"/>. Note that the password is stored in
325 the <filename>secrets.tdb</filename> and is keyed off
326 of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of <parameter>ldap
327 admin dn</parameter> ever changes, the password will need to be
328 manually updated as well.
335 <listitem><para>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
336 being changed is an interdomain trust account. Currently this is used
337 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.
338 The account contains the info about another trusted domain.</para>
340 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
346 <listitem><para>Run in local mode.</para></listitem>
350 <term>username</term>
351 <listitem><para>This specifies the username for all of the
352 <emphasis>root only</emphasis> options to operate on. Only root
353 can specify this parameter as only root has the permission needed
354 to modify attributes directly in the local smbpasswd file.
364 <para>Since <command>smbpasswd</command> works in client-server
365 mode communicating with a local smbd for a non-root user then
366 the smbd daemon must be running for this to work. A common problem
367 is to add a restriction to the hosts that may access the <command>
368 smbd</command> running on the local machine by specifying either <parameter>allow
369 hosts</parameter> or <parameter>deny hosts</parameter> entry in
370 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
371 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file and neglecting to
372 allow "localhost" access to the smbd. </para>
374 <para>In addition, the smbpasswd command is only useful if Samba
375 has been set up to use encrypted passwords. </para>
380 <title>VERSION</title>
382 <para>This man page is correct for version 3.0 of the Samba suite.</para>
386 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
387 <para><citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
388 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>Samba</refentrytitle>
389 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
393 <title>AUTHOR</title>
395 <para>The original Samba software and related utilities
396 were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed
397 by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar
398 to the way the Linux kernel is developed.</para>
400 <para>The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer.
401 The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another
402 excellent piece of Open Source software, available at <ulink url="ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/">
403 ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/</ulink>) and updated for the Samba 2.0
404 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for
405 Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook XML 4.2
406 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.</para>