my etc/shadow file showing *LK* for a particular user.. can u tell me under which circumstances a user is locked

did someone (an admin) issue a 'passwd -l user' ?

probably no.. actually the have provided an application to a client which he can only access using that paricilar user.. now he is not able to login in that application with that user and his passwd file showing *LK*.. wat can be the possible reason.. and hw to unlock that user

One reason i can think of is your user was created without a password assigned to it ...
To unlock the user in your solaris you may try 'passwd -d user', look for man page of passwd for more explanation ... that will remove the *LK* and leave the account open for login without password.

hmmm.. one cant log into the application with other user as well.. guess this thing is jus a part of a bigger problem... lemme check for other issues..
thanks a lot andryk for ur help

Hi,

In solaris 5.8,5.9,and 5.10 there is /etc/shadow file contain the password information of all users


LK means account is locked, user cant logged in the server

Some are the reson's are as follows
1) user created and forgot to reset password
2) system admin used the command passwd -l username command
3) in solaris 5.10 if your attempt 5 times wrong password then also your account will be locked if system admin has set in /etc/policy.conf file

to remove LK from /etc/shadow file use the command
1) passwd -d username
2) passwd username
set new password

Thanks