Regenerating userids from /etc/shadow file

[Sauvik Basu]

Hi,
The /etc/passwd file was deleted by mistake.However,I had shadowing enabled.I have restored the root account and other system accounts.Is it possible anyway to regenerate the previous /etc/passwd file from the /etc/shadow file?
Thanks in advance,
Sauvik Basu.

[Alfredo Garcia Martino · Accepted solution]

Hi,

don't you have any ignite backup to recover the passwd file?

Regards,

Alfredo

[Rick Garland]

You can get the account names and encrypted passwd, but UID, GID, $HOMEDIR are not in there. Might be easier to restore the /etc/passwd from a backup.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

No, /etc/shadow contains only a subset of the needed data. Your best bet is to restore from backup.

[Patrick Wallek]

Not really. The shadow file keeps a subset of information from the /etc/passwd file.

The shadow file does not have the UID, GID, GECOS info (comment field), home directory or default shell.

Your best bet really is to restore from a backup of some sort.

[Sauvik Basu]

Thanks.