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Specifying Passwords for a Specific Machine

Manually edit the password entry in the passwd_override file on the local machine to create an entry in the override file to override passwords on the local machine. The password that you enter must be encrypted, but you can copy the encrypted password from the /etc/passwd file or you can write a program that generates encrypted passwords.

When you override a principal's password, only the principal's local credentials are obtained at login, not the principal's network credentials. Without network credentials, the principal cannot access the network registry and obtain the information that is normally provided at network login. Therefore, you must supply all of this information in the password_override file entry. For overrides to passwords, you must enter all of the fields in the override entry, including all keyfields.

The following example shows a passwd_override file entry that changes a specific machine's password for user mozart's account:

mozart:sq1Rc1Urrb1L6:678:893:Wolfgang A. Mozart:/aria/wolfgang:/bin/csh

Note: If your password is overridden and you then use rlogin or rsh to log in remotely to the machine with the overrides, you are prompted for a password, regardless of what is in either the /etc/hosts.equiv or .rhosts file.