Delete default Unix account in /etc/passwd file

[Chris Fung]

Dear all,

Is it possible for me to delete those Unix default accounts namely (daemon, guest, ftp , uucp, lp and nobody etc) in the password file (/etc/passwd) ??

I know that those accounts are not allowed to be accessed through login by default. Just wondering whether they are really required for normal operation of the Unix machine.

If my system is not running UUCP and lp, I assume those can be removed, am I right? What about the sys, bin, daemon and nobody accounts?? Are they participated in the normal operation of the Unix operating system?

Appreciated it if anyone can answer and send me related documents and links for the real usage of those default user accounts above-mentioned

Many Thanks,

Chris,

[Deepak Extross · Accepted solution]

Hi,
Maybe this link will hbelp you:
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x886a46ff9277d511abcd0090277a778c,00.html

[S.K. Chan]

You probably can't find a single document that will answer all your questions. From my previous experience I will try to explain what and why all those accounts are for.

First the obvious ones ..
sys,daemon,bin
No way you want to mess with that. So leave them alone. These are system files related id and group owership

Next is "nobody", can be confusing but this account is actually for NFS files. The -2 UID is reserved for NFS remote root access. So you don;t want to mess with that too.

Then "lp", again this is for lp spooler. If you check "lpsched" daemon it's owned by "lp". So do not touch this too.

Finally uucp and ftp. My advise is leave them as it is even though theoretically they can be removed if you don;t need uucp and dont want ftp to be enabled.

Generally ifyou have "*" in the password field you'll be fine.

[Victor_5]

daemon, guest, ftp , uucp: you can remove them, but I suggest don't real remove, just comment out

lp: I am not quite for sure, it should be related with lp spooler

nobody: no, it is for NFS.

[hpuxrox]

Chris,

I suggest you review the following document,

http://www.hp.com/products1/unix/operating/infolibrary/whitepapers/building_a_bastion_host.pdf

Page 11 has some information on how to remove unneeded pseudo accounts for a bastion host. This should be of some use.

-Yates