path: root/docs/manpages/smbpasswd.8

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.TH "SMBPASSWD" "8" "23 February 2001" "" ""
.SH NAME
smbpasswd \- change a users SMB password
.SH SYNOPSIS
.sp
\fBsmbpasswd\fR [ \fB-a\fR ]  [ \fB-x\fR ]  [ \fB-d\fR ]  [ \fB-e\fR ]  [ \fB-D debuglevel\fR ]  [ \fB-n\fR ]  [ \fB-r <remote machine>\fR ]  [ \fB-R <name resolve order>\fR ]  [ \fB-m\fR ]  [ \fB-j DOMAIN\fR ]  [ \fB-U username\fR ]  [ \fB-h\fR ]  [ \fB-s\fR ]  [ \fBusername\fR ] 
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
This tool is part of the  Samba <URL:samba.7.html> suite.
.PP
The smbpasswd program has several different 
functions, depending on whether it is run by the \fBroot\fR 
user or not. When run as a normal user it allows the user to change 
the password used for their SMB sessions on any machines that store 
SMB passwords. 
.PP
By default (when run with no arguments) it will attempt to 
change the current users SMB password on the local machine. This is 
similar to the way the \fBpasswd(1)\fR program works. 
\fBsmbpasswd\fR differs from how the passwd program works 
however in that it is not \fBsetuid root\fR but works in 
a client-server mode and communicates with a locally running
\fBsmbd(8)\fR. As a consequence in order for this to 
succeed the smbd daemon must be running on the local machine. On a 
UNIX machine the encrypted SMB passwords are usually stored in 
the \fIsmbpasswd(5)\fR file. 
.PP
When run by an ordinary user with no options. smbpasswd 
will prompt them for their old smb password and then ask them 
for their new password twice, to ensure that the new password
was typed correctly. No passwords will be echoed on the screen 
whilst being typed. If you have a blank smb password (specified by 
the string "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd file) then just press 
the <Enter> key when asked for your old password. 
.PP
smbpasswd can also be used by a normal user to change their
SMB password on remote machines, such as Windows NT Primary Domain 
Controllers. See the (-r) and -U options below. 
.PP
When run by root, smbpasswd allows new users to be added 
and deleted in the smbpasswd file, as well as allows changes to 
the attributes of the user in this file to be made. When run by root, 
\fBsmbpasswd\fR accesses the local smbpasswd file 
directly, thus enabling changes to be made even if smbd is not 
running. 
.SH "OPTIONS"
.TP
\fB-a\fR
This option specifies that the username 
following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the 
new password typed (type <Enter> for the old password). This 
option is ignored if the username following already exists in 
the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change 
password command. Note that the user to be added must already exist 
in the system password file (usually \fI/etc/passwd\fR)
else the request to add the user will fail. 

This option is only available when running smbpasswd 
as root. 
.TP
\fB-x\fR
This option specifies that the username 
following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file.

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as 
root.
.TP
\fB-d\fR
This option specifies that the username following 
should be disabled in the local smbpasswd 
file. This is done by writing a 'D' flag 
into the account control space in the smbpasswd file. Once this 
is done all attempts to authenticate via SMB using this username 
will fail. 

If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format (pre-Samba 2.0 
format) there is no space in the users password entry to write
this information and so the user is disabled by writing 'X' characters 
into the password space in the smbpasswd file. See \fBsmbpasswd(5)
\fRfor details on the 'old' and new password file formats.

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as 
root.
.TP
\fB-e\fR
This option specifies that the username following 
should be enabled in the local smbpasswd file, 
if the account was previously disabled. If the account was not 
disabled this option has no effect. Once the account is enabled then 
the user will be able to authenticate via SMB once again. 

If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format, then \fB smbpasswd\fR will prompt for a new password for this user, 
otherwise the account will be enabled by removing the 'D'
flag from account control space in the \fI smbpasswd\fR file. See \fBsmbpasswd (5)\fR for 
details on the 'old' and new password file formats. 

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root. 
.TP
\fB-D debuglevel\fR
\fIdebuglevel\fR is an integer 
from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified 
is zero. 

The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the 
log files about the activities of smbpasswd. At level 0, only 
critical errors and serious warnings will be logged. 

Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log 
data, and should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels 
above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate
HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic. 
.TP
\fB-n\fR
This option specifies that the username following 
should have their password set to null (i.e. a blank password) in 
the local smbpasswd file. This is done by writing the string "NO 
PASSWORD" as the first part of the first password stored in the 
smbpasswd file. 

Note that to allow users to logon to a Samba server once 
the password has been set to "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd
file the administrator must set the following parameter in the [global]
section of the \fIsmb.conf\fR file : 

\fBnull passwords = yes\fR

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as 
root.
.TP
\fB-r remote machine name\fR
This option allows a user to specify what machine 
they wish to change their password on. Without this parameter 
smbpasswd defaults to the local host. The \fIremote 
machine name\fR is the NetBIOS name of the SMB/CIFS 
server to contact to attempt the password change. This name is 
resolved into an IP address using the standard name resolution 
mechanism in all programs of the Samba suite. See the \fI-R 
name resolve order\fR parameter for details on changing 
this resolving mechanism. 

The username whose password is changed is that of the 
current UNIX logged on user. See the \fI-U username\fR
parameter for details on changing the password for a different 
username. 

Note that if changing a Windows NT Domain password the 
remote machine specified must be the Primary Domain Controller for 
the domain (Backup Domain Controllers only have a read-only
copy of the user account database and will not allow the password 
change).

\fBNote\fR that Windows 95/98 do not have 
a real password database so it is not possible to change passwords 
specifying a Win95/98 machine as remote machine target. 
.TP
\fB-R name resolve order\fR
This option allows the user of smbclient to determine 
what name resolution services to use when looking up the NetBIOS
name of the host being connected to. 

The options are :"lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They cause 
names to be resolved as follows : 
.RS
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
lmhosts : Lookup an IP 
address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in lmhosts has 
no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the lmhosts(5) <URL:lmhosts.5.html> for details) then
any name type matches for lookup.
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
host : Do a standard host 
name to IP address resolution, using the system \fI/etc/hosts
\fR, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution 
is operating system depended for instance on IRIX or Solaris this 
may be controlled by the \fI/etc/nsswitch.conf\fR 
file). Note that this method is only used if the NetBIOS name 
type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type, otherwise 
it is ignored.
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
wins : Query a name with 
the IP address listed in the \fIwins server\fR 
parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method 
will be ignored.
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
bcast : Do a broadcast on 
each of the known local interfaces listed in the
\fIinterfaces\fR parameter. This is the least 
reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the 
target host being on a locally connected subnet.
.RE
.PP
The default order is \fBlmhosts, host, wins, bcast\fR 
and without this parameter or any entry in the 
\fIsmb.conf\fR file the name resolution methods will 
be attempted in this order. 
.PP
.TP
\fB-m\fR
This option tells smbpasswd that the account 
being changed is a MACHINE account. Currently this is used 
when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root. 
.TP
\fB-j DOMAIN\fR
This option is used to add a Samba server 
into a Windows NT Domain, as a Domain member capable of authenticating 
user accounts to any Domain Controller in the same way as a Windows 
NT Server. See the \fBsecurity = domain\fR option in 
the \fIsmb.conf(5)\fR man page. 

In order to be used in this way, the Administrator for 
the Windows NT Domain must have used the program "Server Manager 
for Domains" to add the primary NetBIOS name of the Samba server 
as a member of the Domain. 

After this has been done, to join the Domain invoke \fB smbpasswd\fR with this parameter. smbpasswd will then 
look up the Primary Domain Controller for the Domain (found in 
the \fIsmb.conf\fR file in the parameter 
\fIpassword server\fR and change the machine account 
password used to create the secure Domain communication. This 
password is then stored by smbpasswd in a TDB, writeable only by root, 
called \fIsecrets.tdb\fR 

Once this operation has been performed the \fI smb.conf\fR file may be updated to set the \fB security = domain\fR option and all future logins
to the Samba server will be authenticated to the Windows NT 
PDC. 

Note that even though the authentication is being 
done to the PDC all users accessing the Samba server must still 
have a valid UNIX account on that machine. 

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root. 
.TP
\fB-U username\fR
This option may only be used in conjunction 
with the \fI-r\fR option. When changing
a password on a remote machine it allows the user to specify 
the user name on that machine whose password will be changed. It 
is present to allow users who have different user names on 
different systems to change these passwords. 
.TP
\fB-h\fR
This option prints the help string for \fB smbpasswd\fR, selecting the correct one for running as root 
or as an ordinary user. 
.TP
\fB-s\fR
This option causes smbpasswd to be silent (i.e. 
not issue prompts) and to read it's old and new passwords from 
standard input, rather than from \fI/dev/tty\fR 
(like the \fBpasswd(1)\fR program does). This option 
is to aid people writing scripts to drive smbpasswd
.TP
\fBusername\fR
This specifies the username for all of the 
\fBroot only\fR options to operate on. Only root 
can specify this parameter as only root has the permission needed 
to modify attributes directly in the local smbpasswd file. 
.SH "NOTES"
.PP
Since \fBsmbpasswd\fR works in client-server 
mode communicating with a local smbd for a non-root user then 
the smbd daemon must be running for this to work. A common problem 
is to add a restriction to the hosts that may access the \fB smbd\fR running on the local machine by specifying a 
\fIallow hosts\fR or \fIdeny hosts\fR 
entry in the \fIsmb.conf\fR file and neglecting to 
allow "localhost" access to the smbd. 
.PP
In addition, the smbpasswd command is only useful if Samba
has been set up to use encrypted passwords. See the file 
\fIENCRYPTION.txt\fR in the docs directory for details 
on how to do this. 
.SH "VERSION"
.PP
This man page is correct for version 2.2 of 
the Samba suite.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fIsmbpasswd(5)\fR <URL:smbpasswd.5.html>, 
samba(7) <URL:samba.7.html>
.SH "AUTHOR"
.PP
The original Samba software and related utilities 
were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed
by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar 
to the way the Linux kernel is developed.
.PP
The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer. 
The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another 
excellent piece of Open Source software, available at
ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/ <URL:ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/>) and updated for the Samba 2.0 
release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for 
Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter