Re: How do I allow empty passwords?
correct me if I'm wrong, but this worked for a non-root user: To not
require a password for logging in, edit /etc/shadow and remove the
second field from the user's entry. So for root, it would look
something like:
"root::###:###:###:###:::"
where each # is 0 or more digits
It's also handy for people who forget their passwords, the feild is
encrypted so you can't change the password, but after deleting it, you
can log in and change it to whatever you want with "passwd"
Eric Hanchrow wrote:
>
> I've installed a test system, on which there is absolutely no
> important information. So for my own convenience, I'd like to be able
> to make my root password empty. I realize that on a production
> machine, this would not be a great idea.
>
> The system that I installed is the latest version of potato that has
> made it to whichever mirror I rsync from ... which is to say that I
> can't say precisely which version I'm using, but it's as up-to-date as
> I know how to make it. (If anyone actually wants to know which
> versions of various packages I've got installed, I'd naturally be
> happy to provide that information).
>
> When I installed the system, I of course was asked for a root
> password. I used `bob', since it's easy to remember and type.
>
> I later tried to change it to be empty, like this:
>
> # passwd
> Enter new UNIX password: (here I just hit the Enter key)
> Retype new UNIX password: (again, I just hit Enter)
> No password supplied
> Enter new UNIX password: (here I just hit the Enter key)
> Retype new UNIX password: (again, I just hit Enter)
> No password supplied
> Enter new UNIX password: (here I just hit the Enter key)
> Retype new UNIX password: (again, I just hit Enter)
> No password supplied
> passwd: Authentication token manipulation error
>
> Now, I assume that this behavior isn't due to a bug, but rather to a
> policy: passwords apparently have to be some minimum length. That's
> fine, but I'd like to change the policy, and can't quite figure out
> how.
>
> Now, I see in /etc/pam.d/passwd a line like this:
>
> password required pam_unix.so nullok obscure min=4 max=8
>
> I wonder if `min=4' means that the password must be four characters
> long (although if that's the case, I wonder why I got away with using
> `bob'). In any case, I haven't been able to find any documentation
> for the arguments `nullok obscure min=4 max=8'. `man pam.d' tells me
> to look at the "Linux-PAM system administrators' guide", which doesn't
> answer my question, and which doesn't appear to be part of any Debian
> package (that's annoying -- the Man page refers me to it, but it isn't
> included with Debian).
>
> Anyway: how do I do it? And in general, where do I find the
> documentation with which I could have answered the question myself?
>
> Thanks
>
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