Password problems

[Steffen Moser]

Hello,

Oren Levy wrote:

> Something really weird is going on. Users cannot change their password using
> smbpasswd. They get this:
> 
> Failed to open /etc/secrets.tdb
> Old SMB password:
> New SMB password:
> Retype new SMB password:
> machine 127.0.0.1 rejected the password change: Error was : The specified
> password is invalid.
> Failed to change password for [ ]

I had the same problem after the upgrade from "samba-2.0.7" to
"samba-2.2.0". Our users were no longer able to change their passwords
via Windows' password changing dialogue (Win95, Win98) as well as via
"smbpasswd".

I did some tests and found out that the problem only appears when using
"unix password sync = yes". But we need this feature and it ran quite
well before the upgrade. We didn't have to set "passwd chat" before, it
worked (using 2.0.x) without any problems using the default "passwd
chat" (samba is running on SuSE Linux 6.3 and uses "/usr/bin/passwd"
(with option "%u") that came with the SuSE distribution to change the
user's unix password).

Then I tried to set a "passwd chat" which fits to the dialogue that our
"/usr/bin/passwd" uses. After that I was able to change the password (as
non-root) via "smbpasswd" and via Windows's dialog again!

So I think (if you use "unix password sync") you can try to set a
"passwd chat" manually. Perhaps it solves your problem, too. 

The string that I have set looks like:

  passwd chat = New* %n\n *password* %n\n *changed*

I haven't had enough time to do further investigation, yet. I am sure
that this line was not necessary before the upgrade. ;-)
  
> I can log in fine
> I can change user passwords with root fine

AFAIK when changing passwords as "root", the "unix password sync" is not
done.

> I can share printers
> I can share folders

Yes - the other functions (that we use) of samba are running well.

I hope that I could help you!

Best regards,
Steffen