Request user to change password upon login after account reset in Solaris 10

Question

How can I request user to change his password upon login after I reset his account in Solaris 10?

Answer 1

In Solaris 10 you can use passwd -f <username> command to do this if you are using the files or nisplus repositories.

Manpage here

# passwd -f user2
passwd: password information changed for user2

At next login user2 will get this.

Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
login: user2
Password:
Choose a new password.
New Password:

Answer 2

After you reset the password using passwd edit the /etc/shadow and set the date for the password to 0. The user has to change his password after typing in the current one which you set by using passwd.

An example for a password with 0 day durability:

cw:o368bqRZm2WW6:0::::::

The zero in the third column says that the password never has changed and with normal security policy settings the user will get something like this after login.

# ssh cw@someserver
Password: 
Warning: Your password has expired, please change it now.

New Password:

Let me know if it worked for you.