1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso8859-1"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
5 <!ENTITY % globalentities SYSTEM './../global.ent'> %globalentities;
7 <refentry id="smbpasswd.8">
10 <refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
11 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
16 <refname>smbpasswd</refname>
17 <refpurpose>change a user's SMB password</refpurpose>
22 <command>smbpasswd</command>
23 <arg choice="opt">-a</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">-i</arg>
37 <arg choice="opt">-L</arg>
38 <arg choice="opt">username</arg>
43 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
45 <para>This tool is part of the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>Samba</refentrytitle>
46 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> suite.</para>
48 <para>The smbpasswd program has several different
49 functions, depending on whether it is run by the <emphasis>root</emphasis> user
50 or not. When run as a normal user it allows the user to change
51 the password used for their SMB sessions on any machines that store
52 SMB passwords. </para>
54 <para>By default (when run with no arguments) it will attempt to
55 change the current user's SMB password on the local machine. This is
56 similar to the way the <command>passwd(1)</command> program works. <command>
57 smbpasswd</command> differs from how the passwd program works
58 however in that it is not <emphasis>setuid root</emphasis> but works in
59 a client-server mode and communicates with a
60 locally running <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbd</refentrytitle>
61 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>. As a consequence in order for this to
62 succeed the smbd daemon must be running on the local machine. On a
63 UNIX machine the encrypted SMB passwords are usually stored in
64 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
65 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file. </para>
67 <para>When run by an ordinary user with no options, smbpasswd
68 will prompt them for their old SMB password and then ask them
69 for their new password twice, to ensure that the new password
70 was typed correctly. No passwords will be echoed on the screen
71 whilst being typed. If you have a blank SMB password (specified by
72 the string "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd file) then just press
73 the <Enter> key when asked for your old password. </para>
75 <para>smbpasswd can also be used by a normal user to change their
76 SMB password on remote machines, such as Windows NT Primary Domain
77 Controllers. See the (<parameter>-r</parameter>) and <parameter>-U</parameter> options
80 <para>When run by root, smbpasswd allows new users to be added
81 and deleted in the smbpasswd file, as well as allows changes to
82 the attributes of the user in this file to be made. When run by root, <command>
83 smbpasswd</command> accesses the local smbpasswd file
84 directly, thus enabling changes to be made even if smbd is not
89 <title>OPTIONS</title>
93 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username
94 following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the
95 new password typed (type <Enter> for the old password). This
96 option is ignored if the username following already exists in
97 the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change
98 password command. Note that the default passdb backends require
99 the user to already exist in the system password file (usually
100 <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>), else the request to add the
101 user will fail. </para>
103 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd
104 as root. </para></listitem>
111 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username
112 following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file.
115 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
116 root.</para></listitem>
123 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
124 should be <constant>disabled</constant> in the local smbpasswd
125 file. This is done by writing a <constant>'D'</constant> flag
126 into the account control space in the smbpasswd file. Once this
127 is done all attempts to authenticate via SMB using this username
130 <para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format (pre-Samba 2.0
131 format) there is no space in the user's password entry to write
132 this information and the command will FAIL. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
133 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details on the 'old' and new password file formats.
136 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
137 root.</para></listitem>
143 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
144 should be <constant>enabled</constant> in the local smbpasswd file,
145 if the account was previously disabled. If the account was not
146 disabled this option has no effect. Once the account is enabled then
147 the user will be able to authenticate via SMB once again. </para>
149 <para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format, then <command>
150 smbpasswd</command> will FAIL to enable the account.
151 See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
152 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
153 details on the 'old' and new password file formats. </para>
155 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
162 <term>-D debuglevel</term>
163 <listitem><para><replaceable>debuglevel</replaceable> is an integer
164 from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified
167 <para>The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the
168 log files about the activities of smbpasswd. At level 0, only
169 critical errors and serious warnings will be logged. </para>
171 <para>Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log
172 data, and should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels
173 above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate
174 HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
182 <listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
183 should have their password set to null (i.e. a blank password) in
184 the local smbpasswd file. This is done by writing the string "NO
185 PASSWORD" as the first part of the first password stored in the
186 smbpasswd file. </para>
188 <para>Note that to allow users to logon to a Samba server once
189 the password has been set to "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd
190 file the administrator must set the following parameter in the [global]
191 section of the <filename>smb.conf</filename> file : </para>
193 <para><command>null passwords = yes</command></para>
195 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
196 root.</para></listitem>
202 <term>-r remote machine name</term>
203 <listitem><para>This option allows a user to specify what machine
204 they wish to change their password on. Without this parameter
205 smbpasswd defaults to the local host. The <replaceable>remote
206 machine name</replaceable> is the NetBIOS name of the SMB/CIFS
207 server to contact to attempt the password change. This name is
208 resolved into an IP address using the standard name resolution
209 mechanism in all programs of the Samba suite. See the <parameter>-R
210 name resolve order</parameter> parameter for details on changing
211 this resolving mechanism. </para>
213 <para>The username whose password is changed is that of the
214 current UNIX logged on user. See the <parameter>-U username</parameter>
215 parameter for details on changing the password for a different
218 <para>Note that if changing a Windows NT Domain password the
219 remote machine specified must be the Primary Domain Controller for
220 the domain (Backup Domain Controllers only have a read-only
221 copy of the user account database and will not allow the password
224 <para><emphasis>Note</emphasis> that Windows 95/98 do not have
225 a real password database so it is not possible to change passwords
226 specifying a Win95/98 machine as remote machine target. </para>
232 <term>-R name resolve order</term>
233 <listitem><para>This option allows the user of smbpasswd to determine
234 what name resolution services to use when looking up the NetBIOS
235 name of the host being connected to. </para>
237 <para>The options are :"lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They
238 cause names to be resolved as follows: </para>
240 <listitem><para><constant>lmhosts</constant>: Lookup an IP
241 address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in lmhosts has
242 no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lmhosts</refentrytitle>
243 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details) then
244 any name type matches for lookup.</para></listitem>
246 <listitem><para><constant>host</constant>: Do a standard host
247 name to IP address resolution, using the system <filename>/etc/hosts
248 </filename>, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution
249 is operating system depended for instance on IRIX or Solaris this
250 may be controlled by the <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>
251 file). Note that this method is only used if the NetBIOS name
252 type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type, otherwise
253 it is ignored.</para></listitem>
255 <listitem><para><constant>wins</constant>: Query a name with
256 the IP address listed in the <parameter>wins server</parameter>
257 parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method
258 will be ignored.</para></listitem>
260 <listitem><para><constant>bcast</constant>: Do a broadcast on
261 each of the known local interfaces listed in the
262 <parameter>interfaces</parameter> parameter. This is the least
263 reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the
264 target host being on a locally connected subnet.</para></listitem>
267 <para>The default order is <command>lmhosts, host, wins, bcast</command>
268 and without this parameter or any entry in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
269 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file the name resolution methods will
270 be attempted in this order. </para></listitem>
276 <listitem><para>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
277 being changed is a MACHINE account. Currently this is used
278 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.</para>
280 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
286 <term>-U username</term>
287 <listitem><para>This option may only be used in conjunction
288 with the <parameter>-r</parameter> option. When changing
289 a password on a remote machine it allows the user to specify
290 the user name on that machine whose password will be changed. It
291 is present to allow users who have different user names on
292 different systems to change these passwords. </para></listitem>
298 <listitem><para>This option prints the help string for <command>
299 smbpasswd</command>, selecting the correct one for running as root
300 or as an ordinary user. </para></listitem>
306 <listitem><para>This option causes smbpasswd to be silent (i.e.
307 not issue prompts) and to read its old and new passwords from
308 standard input, rather than from <filename>/dev/tty</filename>
309 (like the <command>passwd(1)</command> program does). This option
310 is to aid people writing scripts to drive smbpasswd</para>
316 <term>-w password</term>
317 <listitem><para>This parameter is only available if Samba
318 has been configured to use the experimental
319 <command>--with-ldapsam</command> option. The <parameter>-w</parameter>
320 switch is used to specify the password to be used with the
321 <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#LDAPADMINDN"><parameter>ldap admin
322 dn</parameter></ulink>. Note that the password is stored in
323 the <filename>secrets.tdb</filename> and is keyed off
324 of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of <parameter>ldap
325 admin dn</parameter> ever changes, the password will need to be
326 manually updated as well.
333 <listitem><para>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
334 being changed is an interdomain trust account. Currently this is used
335 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.
336 The account contains the info about another trusted domain.</para>
338 <para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
344 <listitem><para>Run in local mode.</para></listitem>
348 <term>username</term>
349 <listitem><para>This specifies the username for all of the
350 <emphasis>root only</emphasis> options to operate on. Only root
351 can specify this parameter as only root has the permission needed
352 to modify attributes directly in the local smbpasswd file.
362 <para>Since <command>smbpasswd</command> works in client-server
363 mode communicating with a local smbd for a non-root user then
364 the smbd daemon must be running for this to work. A common problem
365 is to add a restriction to the hosts that may access the <command>
366 smbd</command> running on the local machine by specifying either <parameter>allow
367 hosts</parameter> or <parameter>deny hosts</parameter> entry in
368 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
369 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file and neglecting to
370 allow "localhost" access to the smbd. </para>
372 <para>In addition, the smbpasswd command is only useful if Samba
373 has been set up to use encrypted passwords. See the document <ulink url="pwencrypt.html">
374 "LanMan and NT Password Encryption in Samba"</ulink> in the docs directory for details
375 on how to do this. </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>