<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN">
<refentry id="smbpasswd">
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>smbpasswd</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>smbpasswd</refname>
<refpurpose>change a user's SMB password</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>smbpasswd</command>
<arg choice="opt">-a</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-x</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-d</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-e</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-D debuglevel</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-n</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-r <remote machine></arg>
<arg choice="opt">-R <name resolve order></arg>
<arg choice="opt">-m</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-j DOMAIN</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-U username[%password]</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-h</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-s</arg>
<arg choice="opt">-w pass</arg>
<arg choice="opt">username</arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1>
<title>DESCRIPTION</title>
<para>This tool is part of the <ulink url="samba.7.html">
Samba</ulink> suite.</para>
<para>The smbpasswd program has several different
functions, depending on whether it is run by the <emphasis>root</emphasis>
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. </para>
<para>By default (when run with no arguments) it will attempt to
change the current user's SMB password on the local machine. This is
similar to the way the <command>passwd(1)</command> program works.
<command>smbpasswd</command> differs from how the passwd program works
however in that it is not <emphasis>setuid root</emphasis> but works in
a client-server mode and communicates with a locally running
<command>smbd(8)</command>. 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 <filename>smbpasswd(5)</filename> file. </para>
<para>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. </para>
<para>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. </para>
<para>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,
<command>smbpasswd</command> accesses the local smbpasswd file
directly, thus enabling changes to be made even if smbd is not
running. </para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>OPTIONS</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>-a</term>
<listitem><para>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 <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>)
else the request to add the user will fail. </para>
<para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd
as root. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-x</term>
<listitem><para>This option specifies that the username
following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file.
</para>
<para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
root.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-d</term>
<listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
should be <constant>disabled</constant> in the local smbpasswd
file. This is done by writing a <constant>'D'</constant> 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. </para>
<para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format (pre-Samba 2.0
format) there is no space in the user's 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 <command>smbpasswd(5)
</command> for details on the 'old' and new password file formats.
</para>
<para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
root.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-e</term>
<listitem><para>This option specifies that the username following
should be <constant>enabled</constant> 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. </para>
<para>If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format, then <command>
smbpasswd</command> will prompt for a new password for this user,
otherwise the account will be enabled by removing the <constant>'D'
</constant> flag from account control space in the <filename>
smbpasswd</filename> file. See <command>smbpasswd (5)</command> for
details on the 'old' and new password file formats. </para>
<para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-D debuglevel</term>
<listitem><para><replaceable>debuglevel</replaceable> is an integer
from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified
is zero. </para>
<para>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. </para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-n</term>
<listitem><para>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. </para>
<para>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 <filename>smb.conf</filename> file : </para>
<para><command>null passwords = yes</command></para>
<para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as
root.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-r remote machine name</term>
<listitem><para>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 <replaceable>remote
machine name</replaceable> 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 <parameter>-R
name resolve order</parameter> parameter for details on changing
this resolving mechanism. </para>
<para>The username whose password is changed is that of the
current UNIX logged on user. See the <parameter>-U username</parameter>
parameter for details on changing the password for a different
username. </para>
<para>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).</para>
<para><emphasis>Note</emphasis> 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. </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-R name resolve order</term>
<listitem><para>This option allows the user of smbpasswd to determine
what name resolution services to use when looking up the NetBIOS
name of the host being connected to. </para>
<para>The options are :"lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They cause
names to be resolved as follows : </para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><constant>lmhosts</constant> : 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 <ulink
url="lmhosts.5.html">lmhosts(5)</ulink> for details) then
any name type matches for lookup.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><constant>host</constant> : Do a standard host
name to IP address resolution, using the system <filename>/etc/hosts
</filename>, 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 <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>
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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><constant>wins</constant> : Query a name with
the IP address listed in the <parameter>wins server</parameter>
parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method
will be ignored.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><constant>bcast</constant> : Do a broadcast on
each of the known local interfaces listed in the
<parameter>interfaces</parameter> parameter. This is the least
reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the
target host being on a locally connected subnet.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>The default order is <command>lmhosts, host, wins, bcast</command>
and without this parameter or any entry in the
<filename>smb.conf</filename> file the name resolution methods will
be attempted in this order. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-m</term>
<listitem><para>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.</para>
<para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-j DOMAIN</term>
<listitem><para>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 <command>security = domain</command> option in
the <filename>smb.conf(5)</filename> man page. </para>
<para>This command can work both with and without the -U parameter. </para>
<para>When invoked with -U, that username (and optional password) are
used to contact the PDC (which must be specified with -r) to both
create a machine account, and to set a password on it.</para>
<para>Alternately, if -U is omitted, Samba will contact its PDC
and attempt to change the password on a pre-existing account. </para>
<para>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. </para>
<para>After this has been done, to join the Domain invoke <command>
smbpasswd</command> with this parameter. smbpasswd will then
look up the Primary Domain Controller for the Domain (found in
the <filename>smb.conf</filename> file in the parameter
<parameter>password server</parameter> and change the machine account
password used to create the secure Domain communication. </para>
<para>Either way, this password is then stored by smbpasswd in a TDB,
writeable only by root, called <filename>secrets.tdb</filename> </para>
<para>Once this operation has been performed the <filename>
smb.conf</filename> file may be updated to set the <command>
security = domain</command> option and all future logins
to the Samba server will be authenticated to the Windows NT
PDC. </para>
<para>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.
The <command>winbindd(8)</command> daemon can be used
to create UNIX accounts for NT users.</para>
<para>This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-U username</term>
<listitem><para>This option may only be used in conjunction
with the <parameter>-r</parameter> 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. </para>
<para>In particular, this parameter specifies the username
used to create the machine account when invoked with -j</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-h</term>
<listitem><para>This option prints the help string for <command>
smbpasswd</command>, selecting the correct one for running as root
or as an ordinary user. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-s</term>
<listitem><para>This option causes smbpasswd to be silent (i.e.
not issue prompts) and to read its old and new passwords from
standard input, rather than from <filename>/dev/tty</filename>
(like the <command>passwd(1)</command> program does). This option
is to aid people writing scripts to drive smbpasswd</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-w password</term>
<listitem><para>This parameter is only available is Samba
has been configured to use the experimental
<command>--with-ldapsam</command> option. The <parameter>-w</parameter>
switch is used to specify the password to be used with the
<ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#LDAPADMINDN"><parameter>ldap admin
dn</parameter></ulink>. Note that the password is stored in
the <filename>private/secrets.tdb</filename> and is keyed off
of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of <parameter>ldap
admin dn</parameter> ever changes, the password will beed to be
manually updated as well.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>username</term>
<listitem><para>This specifies the username for all of the
<emphasis>root only</emphasis> 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.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>NOTES</title>
<para>Since <command>smbpasswd</command> 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 <command>
smbd</command> running on the local machine by specifying a
<parameter>allow hosts</parameter> or <parameter>deny hosts</parameter>
entry in the <filename>smb.conf</filename> file and neglecting to
allow "localhost" access to the smbd. </para>
<para>In addition, the smbpasswd command is only useful if Samba
has been set up to use encrypted passwords. See the file
<filename>ENCRYPTION.txt</filename> in the docs directory for details
on how to do this. </para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>VERSION</title>
<para>This man page is correct for version 2.2 of
the Samba suite.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>SEE ALSO</title>
<para><ulink url="smbpasswd.5.html"><filename>smbpasswd(5)</filename></ulink>,
<ulink url="samba.7.html">samba(7)</ulink>
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>AUTHOR</title>
<para>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.</para>
<para>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
<ulink url="ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/">
ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/</ulink>) and updated for the Samba 2.0
release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for
Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>