Recipe 8.9. Disabling Accounts
8.9.1 Problem
You need to disable an account and
temporarily prevent the user from logging in, but you
don't want to delete the account.
8.9.2 Solution
To temporarily deactivate an account, disable the
user's password with the -l
(lock) flag:
# passwd -l aborg
Password changed.
To re-enable,
or unlock, a user's password use:
# passwd -u aborg
Password changed.
8.9.3 Discussion
Another way to disable an account is to insert an exclamation point
at the beginning of the password field in
/etc/shadow:
foobar:!$1$wiDlQr34$mitGZA76MSYCY04AHIY1:12466:0:99999:7:::
Yet another way is replace the x in the password
field in /etc/passwd with an asterisk (*):
foober:*:1025:1025:Foober Smith,,,:/home/foober:/bin/bash
You can also take away the user's login shell:
# usermod -s /bin/false foober
But it's best to stick with passwd
-l and -u.
8.9.4 See Also
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