RH 7.1 cannot open session

[lastgreatone]

I'm not sure what happened, I may have corrupted the /etc/passwd. When I create a new user, via gui, it returns with no shadow created for that user. From the gui or cmd line, I try to su as root to the user, and returns with cannot open session. And the hostname is no longer linked to the username at the prompt, it shows as I have no name!@xxxxx.username$. Any clues?

[Jeffrey Wong]

Try manually checking the entry in /etc/passwd for that account. It should look like the following if you are using shadow passwords:

login_name:x:uid_number:gid_number:user_name:user_home_directory:user_shell

Depending on what program was used to create the entry, user_name is sometimes blank.

[Mark Fenton]

Frankie, that sounds WIERD!

I suppose, if the user entry is messed up, su-ing to that user will yield peculiar results. Try this:

From the command line as root create a new user:

# useradd user1
#
user1 is created with no passwd, a default directory /home/user1 and shell of /bin/bash

verify this:

# grep user1 /etc/passwd
user1:x:520:520::/home/user1:/bin/bash
#

change user1's passwd

# passwd user1
Changing password for user user1
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully
#

now su to user1

does this procedure work? If so, you may only have to remove the one user (or two that didn't get created correctly.

hth

[lastgreatone]

All entries check out ok.
Tried test with adduser. The result is the same. Either from the gui or console, as root I su to username and it returns with 'could not open session'. Do I have to tweak the /etc/securetty? Or how about the /etc/pam.d/su, how should it look like?

[lastgreatone]

One more point: I login as the new user I just created, and the prompt is still:
I have no name@xxxxx.username. I run whoami and it returns with "cannot find username for UID 1010.

[Mark Fenton · Accepted solution]

Quite a challenge.

Could you include the screen output from your su username attempt?

Some other thoughts -- are you running a stock RH 7.1 kernel (i.e. no security enhancements from third parties like LIDS) ? Do you use NIS in this environment?

Beyond root, are there ANY valid user accounts on the system? (can you su to any of these?)

Does /etc/shadow exist? (with proper permissions -- Read for root only owner root/root.)

[lastgreatone]

Yes, using stock RH 7.1.
No NIS.
Cannot su to any other acct.
/etc/shadow with proper permissions, but may not be in sync with /etc/passwd, how do I resolve this?

[Mark Fenton]

Frankie, I'm not giving up on this, but if you can, let's try another tack:

If you have, or can install webmin, use the add new user option to create a new user account. Then see if that new account behaves normally.

I've seen instances where passwd gets messed up and cannot properly encrypt a passwd, perhaps it's having other issues on your system.

Another idea -- Manually create a password entry:

/usr/sbin/vipw

user1:x:1010:1010:This is a dummy account for user1:/home/user1:/bin/bash

:x!

then edit /etc/shadow (should automatically pop up)

user1:!!:11717:0:99999:7:::

:x!
again and then test
# su - user1

Copy your screen output (clean it up if you like) and post here if there're still problems.