04-07-2008
Quite simply, you cannot. You can replace the file and maybe reconstruct parts of it. If you have /etc/shadow, it should be a breeze; but an overwritten file cannot be recovered easily, especially not as a regular user. You will need to be root to read the shadow file, most probably, and to write /etc/passwd.
10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting
1. Cybersecurity
hi
Does anyone anyone know what the last line of a unix user passwd file signifes?
Mine shows "+:::::"
best (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: s_mad010
4 Replies
2. SCO
I am unbale to uncompress a file which was compress then moved to another pc in ascii mode instead of binary mode. Is there any way to recover it. Please help us. While uncompress it is giving corrupt input. (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: raj2610
3 Replies
3. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users
Hey peeps,
Here is somethin u might find interestin....
Is it possible to recover data from a partition which used to be an ext3 file sytem with some nice forgotten backups, which now is an lvm partion containg root partition of another OS. :)
I couldn't create any mess better than this, can... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: squid04
2 Replies
4. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
Hi there,
When I want to make a file unrecoverable, I use the following command:
foo:~$ shred -fuz filename
The problem is that I deleted many files using:
foo:~$ rm -f filename
How can I make those files unrecoverable?
Is there a command that shreds the disk free space?
So that no file can... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: chebarbudo
2 Replies
5. Solaris
Is it possible to reset a normal user password , by editing password field in /etc/shadow file?
Thanks (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: ksvaisakh
6 Replies
6. Cybersecurity
Hello friends
I have an CentosOS 5 box running Apache, I want to Install a powerful File Integrity checker with recovery option to maintain any changes may be happened without my hand
Could you help me to recommend such solution
Thanks (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: reaky
3 Replies
7. Solaris
Hi Folks,
I have Solaris 10, latest release.
We have passwd aging set in /etc/defalut/passwd.
I have an account that passwd should never expire. Acheived by emptying associated users shadow file entries for passwd aging.
When I reset the users passwd using passwd command, it re enables... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: BG_JrAdmin
3 Replies
8. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users
Hi,
Please let me know the way to recover the files deleted from home directory by 'rm*' command .
Thanks in advance. (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: ravigupta2u
10 Replies
9. AIX
Does anyone know when AIX started using /etc/security/passwd instead of /etc/passwd to store encrypted passwords? (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: Anne Neville
1 Replies
10. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users
is it possible to recovery a deleted file in AIX? (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: fiyas
2 Replies
pwconv(8) System Manager's Manual pwconv(8)
NAME
pwconv - convert to shadow account
SYNOPSIS
pwconv [-P path]
DESCRIPTION
pwconv installs and updates /etc/shadow with information from /etc/passwd. It relies on the special password 'x' in the password field of
the account. This value indicates that the password for the user is already in /etc/shadow and should not be modified.
If /etc/shadow does not exist, pwconv creates this file, moves the user password to it and creates default aging informations with the help
of the values of PASS_MIN_DAYS, PASS_MAX_DAYS and PASS_WARN_AGE from /etc/login.defs. The password field in /etc/passwd is replaced with
the special character 'x'.
If the /etc/shadow does exist, entries that are in the /etc/passwd file and not in the /etc/shadow file are added to the /etc/shadow file.
Accounts, which only exist in /etc/passwd, are added to /etc/shadow. Entries that are in /etc/shadow and not in /etc/passwd are removed
from /etc/shadow. All passwords from /etc/passwd are moved to /etc/shadow and replaced with the special character 'x'.
pwconv can be used for initial conversion and for updates later.
OPTIONS
-P, --path path
The passwd and shadow files are located below the specified directory path. pwconv will use this files, not /etc/passwd and
/etc/shadow.
FILES
passwd - user account information
shadow - shadow user account information
SEE ALSO
passwd(1), login.defs(5), passwd(5), shadow(5), pwck(8), pwunconv(8)
AUTHOR
Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@suse.de>
pwdutils January 2004 pwconv(8)