UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,

I'm trying to change individual passwords in one of our solaris box but I'm getting error Unexpected failure. Password file/table unchanged when I use passwd. I can only change passwords using root. Please help me on how I can change the passwords without using root. We need to provide individual user account for each member of our group and they need to change their passwords. Thanks in advance


$ passwd
passwd: Changing password for lamine
Enter existing login password:
Unexpected failure. Password file/table unchanged.
$

Found this on Google - maybe it helps:
Oracle Apps Technology: Unexpected failure. Password file/table unchanged

Run the pwck command and fix anything it finds. I'll bet you have a blank line.

Hi Zaxxon,

I tried it yesterday but it didn't solve it, also the passwd in nsswitch.conf is not compat.

egrep "^passwd" /etc/nsswitch.conf
passwd: files

Hi Perderabo,

I already fixed the errors in pwck and same result when I change password.

$ passwd
passwd: Changing password for lamine
Enter existing login password:
Unexpected failure. Password file/table unchanged.


Thanks guys for helping me! I still don't know what will I do about this

Check the permission on /usr/bin/passwd. And check /etc/pam.conf. I am now thinking a pam problem.

Hi Perderabo,

Permission of passwd seems ok. Please see details below. For the pam.conf, what do I need to check? Thanks!


-r-xr-xr-x 1 root other 23500 Jul 19 2007 passwd


pam.conf passwd line:

passwd auth required pam_passwd_auth.so.1

Well I see a problem or two. That is guaranteed to fail unless you're root. You indicate that you have multiple Solaris boxes. Compare that to the boxes that work. For Solaris 8 it's:
$ ls -l /usr/bin/passwd
-r-sr-sr-x 1 root sys 24400 Dec 22 2006 /usr/bin/passwd