1 <html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><title>smbpasswd</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="samba.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.68.1"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="refentry" lang="en"><a name="smbpasswd.8"></a><div class="titlepage"></div><div class="refnamediv"><h2>Name</h2><p>smbpasswd — change a user's SMB password</p></div><div class="refsynopsisdiv"><h2>Synopsis</h2><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">smbpasswd</code> [-a] [-c <config file>] [-x] [-d] [-e] [-D debuglevel] [-n] [-r <remote machine>] [-R <name resolve order>] [-m] [-U username[%password]] [-h] [-s] [-w pass] [-i] [-L] [username]</p></div></div><div class="refsect1" lang="en"><a name="id2450670"></a><h2>DESCRIPTION</h2><p>This tool is part of the <a href="samba.7.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">samba</span>(7)</span></a> suite.</p><p>The smbpasswd program has several different
2 functions, depending on whether it is run by the <span class="emphasis"><em>root</em></span> user
3 or not. When run as a normal user it allows the user to change
4 the password used for their SMB sessions on any machines that store
5 SMB passwords. </p><p>By default (when run with no arguments) it will attempt to
6 change the current user's SMB password on the local machine. This is
7 similar to the way the <span><strong class="command">passwd(1)</strong></span> program works. <span><strong class="command">
8 smbpasswd</strong></span> differs from how the passwd program works
9 however in that it is not <span class="emphasis"><em>setuid root</em></span> but works in
10 a client-server mode and communicates with a
11 locally running <a href="smbd.8.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">smbd</span>(8)</span></a>. As a consequence in order for this to
12 succeed the smbd daemon must be running on the local machine. On a
13 UNIX machine the encrypted SMB passwords are usually stored in
14 the <a href="smbpasswd.5.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">smbpasswd</span>(5)</span></a> file. </p><p>When run by an ordinary user with no options, smbpasswd
15 will prompt them for their old SMB password and then ask them
16 for their new password twice, to ensure that the new password
17 was typed correctly. No passwords will be echoed on the screen
18 whilst being typed. If you have a blank SMB password (specified by
19 the string "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd file) then just press
20 the <Enter> key when asked for your old password. </p><p>smbpasswd can also be used by a normal user to change their
21 SMB password on remote machines, such as Windows NT Primary Domain
22 Controllers. See the (<em class="parameter"><code>-r</code></em>) and <em class="parameter"><code>-U</code></em> options
23 below. </p><p>When run by root, smbpasswd allows new users to be added
24 and deleted in the smbpasswd file, as well as allows changes to
25 the attributes of the user in this file to be made. When run by root, <span><strong class="command">
26 smbpasswd</strong></span> accesses the local smbpasswd file
27 directly, thus enabling changes to be made even if smbd is not
28 running. </p></div><div class="refsect1" lang="en"><a name="id2450859"></a><h2>OPTIONS</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl><dt><span class="term">-a</span></dt><dd><p>
29 This option specifies that the username following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the new
30 password typed (type <Enter> for the old password). This option is ignored if the username following
31 already exists in the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change password command. Note that the
32 default passdb backends require the user to already exist in the system password file (usually
33 <code class="filename">/etc/passwd</code>), else the request to add the user will fail.
34 </p><p>This option is only available when running smbpasswd
35 as root. </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-c</span></dt><dd><p>
36 This option can be used to specify the path and file name of the <code class="filename">smb.conf</code> configuration file when it
37 is important to use other than the default file and / or location.
38 </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-x</span></dt><dd><p>
39 This option specifies that the username following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file.
41 This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
42 </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-d</span></dt><dd><p>This option specifies that the username following
43 should be <code class="constant">disabled</code> in the local smbpasswd
44 file. This is done by writing a <code class="constant">'D'</code> flag
45 into the account control space in the smbpasswd file. Once this
46 is done all attempts to authenticate via SMB using this username
47 will fail. </p><p>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format (pre-Samba 2.0
48 format) there is no space in the user's password entry to write
49 this information and the command will FAIL. See <a href="smbpasswd.5.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">smbpasswd</span>(5)</span></a> for details on the 'old' and new password file formats.
50 </p><p>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
51 root.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-e</span></dt><dd><p>This option specifies that the username following
52 should be <code class="constant">enabled</code> in the local smbpasswd file,
53 if the account was previously disabled. If the account was not
54 disabled this option has no effect. Once the account is enabled then
55 the user will be able to authenticate via SMB once again. </p><p>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format, then <span><strong class="command">
56 smbpasswd</strong></span> will FAIL to enable the account.
57 See <a href="smbpasswd.5.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">smbpasswd</span>(5)</span></a> for
58 details on the 'old' and new password file formats. </p><p>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
59 </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-D debuglevel</span></dt><dd><p><em class="replaceable"><code>debuglevel</code></em> is an integer
60 from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified
61 is zero. </p><p>The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the
62 log files about the activities of smbpasswd. At level 0, only
63 critical errors and serious warnings will be logged. </p><p>Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log
64 data, and should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels
65 above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate
66 HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
67 </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-n</span></dt><dd><p>This option specifies that the username following
68 should have their password set to null (i.e. a blank password) in
69 the local smbpasswd file. This is done by writing the string "NO
70 PASSWORD" as the first part of the first password stored in the
71 smbpasswd file. </p><p>Note that to allow users to logon to a Samba server once
72 the password has been set to "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd
73 file the administrator must set the following parameter in the [global]
74 section of the <code class="filename">smb.conf</code> file : </p><p><span><strong class="command">null passwords = yes</strong></span></p><p>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
75 root.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-r remote machine name</span></dt><dd><p>This option allows a user to specify what machine
76 they wish to change their password on. Without this parameter
77 smbpasswd defaults to the local host. The <em class="replaceable"><code>remote
78 machine name</code></em> is the NetBIOS name of the SMB/CIFS
79 server to contact to attempt the password change. This name is
80 resolved into an IP address using the standard name resolution
81 mechanism in all programs of the Samba suite. See the <em class="parameter"><code>-R
82 name resolve order</code></em> parameter for details on changing
83 this resolving mechanism. </p><p>The username whose password is changed is that of the
84 current UNIX logged on user. See the <em class="parameter"><code>-U username</code></em>
85 parameter for details on changing the password for a different
86 username. </p><p>Note that if changing a Windows NT Domain password the
87 remote machine specified must be the Primary Domain Controller for
88 the domain (Backup Domain Controllers only have a read-only
89 copy of the user account database and will not allow the password
90 change).</p><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Note</em></span> that Windows 95/98 do not have
91 a real password database so it is not possible to change passwords
92 specifying a Win95/98 machine as remote machine target. </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-R name resolve order</span></dt><dd><p>This option allows the user of smbpasswd to determine
93 what name resolution services to use when looking up the NetBIOS
94 name of the host being connected to. </p><p>The options are :"lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They
95 cause names to be resolved as follows: </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc"><li><p><code class="constant">lmhosts</code>: Lookup an IP
96 address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in lmhosts has
97 no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the <a href="lmhosts.5.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">lmhosts</span>(5)</span></a> for details) then
98 any name type matches for lookup.</p></li><li><p><code class="constant">host</code>: Do a standard host
99 name to IP address resolution, using the system <code class="filename">/etc/hosts
100 </code>, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution
101 is operating system depended for instance on IRIX or Solaris this
102 may be controlled by the <code class="filename">/etc/nsswitch.conf</code>
103 file). Note that this method is only used if the NetBIOS name
104 type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type, otherwise
105 it is ignored.</p></li><li><p><code class="constant">wins</code>: Query a name with
106 the IP address listed in the <em class="parameter"><code>wins server</code></em>
107 parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method
108 will be ignored.</p></li><li><p><code class="constant">bcast</code>: Do a broadcast on
109 each of the known local interfaces listed in the
110 <em class="parameter"><code>interfaces</code></em> parameter. This is the least
111 reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the
112 target host being on a locally connected subnet.</p></li></ul></div><p>The default order is <span><strong class="command">lmhosts, host, wins, bcast</strong></span>
113 and without this parameter or any entry in the <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">smb.conf</span>(5)</span></a> file the name resolution methods will
114 be attempted in this order. </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-m</span></dt><dd><p>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
115 being changed is a MACHINE account. Currently this is used
116 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.</p><p>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
117 </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-U username</span></dt><dd><p>This option may only be used in conjunction
118 with the <em class="parameter"><code>-r</code></em> option. When changing
119 a password on a remote machine it allows the user to specify
120 the user name on that machine whose password will be changed. It
121 is present to allow users who have different user names on
122 different systems to change these passwords. </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-h</span></dt><dd><p>This option prints the help string for <span><strong class="command">
123 smbpasswd</strong></span>, selecting the correct one for running as root
124 or as an ordinary user. </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-s</span></dt><dd><p>This option causes smbpasswd to be silent (i.e.
125 not issue prompts) and to read its old and new passwords from
126 standard input, rather than from <code class="filename">/dev/tty</code>
127 (like the <span><strong class="command">passwd(1)</strong></span> program does). This option
128 is to aid people writing scripts to drive smbpasswd</p></dd><dt><span class="term">-w password</span></dt><dd><p>This parameter is only available if Samba
129 has been compiled with LDAP support. The <em class="parameter"><code>-w</code></em>
130 switch is used to specify the password to be used with the
131 <a class="indexterm" name="id2451592"></a>ldap admin dn. Note that the password is stored in
132 the <code class="filename">secrets.tdb</code> and is keyed off
133 of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of <em class="parameter"><code>ldap
134 admin dn</code></em> ever changes, the password will need to be
135 manually updated as well.
136 </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-i</span></dt><dd><p>This option tells smbpasswd that the account
137 being changed is an interdomain trust account. Currently this is used
138 when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.
139 The account contains the info about another trusted domain.</p><p>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
140 </p></dd><dt><span class="term">-L</span></dt><dd><p>Run in local mode.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">username</span></dt><dd><p>This specifies the username for all of the
141 <span class="emphasis"><em>root only</em></span> options to operate on. Only root
142 can specify this parameter as only root has the permission needed
143 to modify attributes directly in the local smbpasswd file.
144 </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1" lang="en"><a name="id2451668"></a><h2>NOTES</h2><p>Since <span><strong class="command">smbpasswd</strong></span> works in client-server
145 mode communicating with a local smbd for a non-root user then
146 the smbd daemon must be running for this to work. A common problem
147 is to add a restriction to the hosts that may access the <span><strong class="command">
148 smbd</strong></span> running on the local machine by specifying either <em class="parameter"><code>allow
149 hosts</code></em> or <em class="parameter"><code>deny hosts</code></em> entry in
150 the <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">smb.conf</span>(5)</span></a> file and neglecting to
151 allow "localhost" access to the smbd. </p><p>In addition, the smbpasswd command is only useful if Samba
152 has been set up to use encrypted passwords. </p></div><div class="refsect1" lang="en"><a name="id2451721"></a><h2>VERSION</h2><p>This man page is correct for version 3.0 of the Samba suite.</p></div><div class="refsect1" lang="en"><a name="id2451732"></a><h2>SEE ALSO</h2><p><a href="smbpasswd.5.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">smbpasswd</span>(5)</span></a>, <a href="Samba.7.html"><span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">Samba</span>(7)</span></a>.</p></div><div class="refsect1" lang="en"><a name="id2451756"></a><h2>AUTHOR</h2><p>The original Samba software and related utilities
153 were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed
154 by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar
155 to the way the Linux kernel is developed.</p><p>The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer.
156 The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another
157 excellent piece of Open Source software, available at <a href="ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/" target="_top">
158 ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/</a>) and updated for the Samba 2.0
159 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for
160 Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook XML 4.2
161 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.</p></div></div></body></html>
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