topic Re: Screen Lock Not Locking in Operating System - HP-UX

Screen Lock Not Locking

Peter_17 — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 14:11:08 GMT

Hi all,

I have a new install of HP-UX 11. When one hits the CDE lock button, the screen lock engages, but one can enter any string of characters to gain access. I'm thinking this is a known problem, but am unable to find which patch resolves this. Any and all help appreciated.

Pete

Re: Screen Lock Not Locking

Patrick Wallek — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 14:25:35 GMT

Does the user that is trying to lock the screen have a password in the password field in /etc/passwd? I ran into a similar problem on my box at one point when I was doing some experiments. If there is not a password for the user in the /etc/passwd file, then the screen lock will not function correctly.

Here is a TKB document that talks about this:

Problem Description
Users cannot lock screen (CDE LockDisplay action) if no password is set. If a user has no encrypted password in the passwd file (or NIS map), then they are unable to lock screen. There was no errorlog in ~/.dt thus no error messages. Is this normal behavior?

Configuration Info
Operating System - HP-UX Version -10.20
Hardware System - HP 9000 Series -715

Solution
This is expected behavior for CDE (Common Desktop Environment).
It will not allow a user without a password to lock the screen. Autolock on timeout will not start either. A user should not be able to login to CDE without a password (if the encrypted password field is empty in /etc/passwd on that user's line).

If you are using integrated login on your system, that is why it will not allow you to login without a password. If you use standard authentication on your system, it allows login with no complaint, but as determined earlier, CDE will not allow a screen lock without a password.

Re: Screen Lock Not Locking

Peter_17 — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 14:33:19 GMT

I should have mentioned that it's in an NIS environment and all users have a password. All other machines on the network behave correctly. This is a first-deployed hp11 box in a hp10.2 environment.

Thanks,

Pete

Re: Screen Lock Not Locking

Alex Glennie — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 15:10:34 GMT

Not heard of this before ... what patch levels are you running at ?

From a CDE point of view I'd ensure PHSS_: 23800 + 23520 are installed together with the latest NIS patches

Re: Screen Lock Not Locking

Patrick Wallek — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 15:14:00 GMT

Your /etc/passwd file is set up correctly for NIS with the +::0:0::: entry in the file? Users can log on to the machine?

Re: Screen Lock Not Locking

Peter_17 — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 15:23:54 GMT

Alex,
Neither of the patches you mentioned are installed. I'm looking into this now...

Patrick,
Yes, users can log into the box with no problems, and yes, the passwd file is as your post.

Thanks,

Pete

Re: Screen Lock Not Locking

Stefan Schulz — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 04:48:10 GMT

This may be a dump question, but has your root user also a password set?

If root has no password the screen lock won't work.

(Still think this is a dump question)

Regards Stefan

Re: Screen Lock Not Locking

Charles Slivkoff — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 12:08:09 GMT

Is the 11.0 box correctly configured to use the NIS server? In /etc/nsswitch.conf, if you are binding to a non NIS+ server, you must have:

passwd: compat

group: compat

as well as the "+" escapes in /etc/passwd and /etc/group