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Zygote

Member

Registered: 2013-01-15

Posts: 77

[SOLVED] shadow.service fails

Just did a systemctl --failed to look over my services and saw that the shadow.service had failed. I cant restart it either, and systemctl gives the following info.

● shadow.service - Verify integrity of password and group files
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/shadow.service; static; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2015-02-13 20:26:43 CET; 27s ago
  Process: 8651 ExecStart=/usr/bin/pwck -r (code=exited, status=2)
 Main PID: 8651 (code=exited, status=2)

Feb 13 20:26:43 vaio pwck[8651]: user 'kdm': directory '/var/lib/kdm' does not exist
Feb 13 20:26:43 vaio pwck[8651]: pwck: no changes
Feb 13 20:26:43 vaio systemd[1]: shadow.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=2/INVALIDARGUMENT
Feb 13 20:26:43 vaio systemd[1]: Failed to start Verify integrity of password and group files.
Feb 13 20:26:43 vaio systemd[1]: Unit shadow.service entered failed state.
Feb 13 20:26:43 vaio systemd[1]: shadow.service failed.

anyone seen this before or have any idea how to resolve the issue? Running KDE Plasma 5.

Last edited by Zygote (2015-02-14 09:55:02)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: [SOLVED] shadow.service fails

man pwck

Not a Sysadmin issue, moving to NC...

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Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

Zygote

Member

Registered: 2013-01-15

Posts: 77

Re: [SOLVED] shadow.service fails

Only thing I've found is a reference to this bug report from 2010. Seems relevant I suppose.I see in passwd that there is a kdm user with a home directory set too /var/lib/kdm, so it seems like some package added the user.

However, I am at a loss as to how to best resolve the issue. Should I delete the user or change the homedirectory or just create that directory perhaps? I just created the kdm directory and chowned it to the kdm user and the shadow.service now runs just fine. Not sure if that's the best solution so Ill wait and see if anyone else have anything to add.

Cheers

Last edited by Zygote (2015-02-13 19:39:38)

nbvcxz

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2007-12-29

Posts: 202

Re: [SOLVED] shadow.service fails

shadow.service wont start

In fact it starts OK. It executes /usr/bin/pwck -r but this command doesn't finish clear but with error code 2.
Below is the probably explanation (I think it is a reason):
You have user kdm but you don't have directory /var/lib/kdm which is probably set as kdm home directory.
Solution:
If you don't use kdm (You probably removed kdm login manager) remove kdm user from system. Sometimes when you delete some services (which have own system user account) they leave the account and you need to remove it manually.

Last edited by nbvcxz (2015-02-14 09:34:54)

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Zygote

Member

Registered: 2013-01-15

Posts: 77

Re: [SOLVED] shadow.service fails

Thanks for the input! You're absolutely right in that KDM is uninstalled. I just figured since the user was still there that it was being used by some other KDE component. Ill just try and delete it. If it works Ill mark the topic as solved.

Thank you.