[Solved] Group Screwup

&#32 Greg · 2009-03-08 21:28:26

Not sure how, but while installing VirtualBox I somehow managed to remove myself from all groups except for vboxusers and greg. Trying to add myself into more groups with gpasswd -a says success but fails on the groups listing, and usermod -aG does the same. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Greg

Last edited by &#32 Greg (2009-03-09 20:28:31)

bernarcher · 2009-03-08 21:40:15

You may also want to edit the /etc/groups file directly as root. (See man group.)
Are there any backups of this file? Perhaps they will tell more about what did happen.

Are there any messages when you start gpasswd/usermod from a console?
Any dmesg lines?

&#32 Greg · 2009-03-08 21:57:04

Hmmm, I tried editing /etc/group directly as root. Oddly enough, it had me listed under things I was trying to add myself into, and did not have me under vboxusers- something that I tried to remove myself from once. Groups still remains the same after the edit.

Sorry, no backups of group. Usermod at one point had had a "Cannot lock password file" error but that has went away. I cannot find any errors pertaining to the situation in dmesg.

bernarcher · 2009-03-08 22:12:00

Mmh, strange. Just guessing--
Please post your /etc/groups and /etc/passwd.
Any strange file permissions?

&#32 Greg · 2009-03-08 22:22:17

/etc/group (No s for me, don't know if that means anything) NOTE: I did edit this a little to put myself in more groups

root::0:root
bin::1:root,bin,daemon
daemon::2:root,bin,daemon,greg
sys::3:root,bin
adm::4:root,daemon
tty::5:
disk::6:root
lp::7:daemon
mem::8:
kmem::9:
wheel::10:root,greg
ftp::11:
mail::12:
uucp:x:14:root
log::19:root
locate::21:
smmsp::25:
http::33:
games::50:
network:x:90:
video:x:91:greg
audio::92:root,greg
optical::93:hal
floppy:x:94:hal
storage:x:95:hal
scanner:x:96:
power:x:98:root,greg
nobody::99:
users::100:greg
greg:x:1000:greg
policykit:x:1001:
hal:x:82:
dbus:x:81:
avahi:x:84:
camera:x:97:
ntp:x:87:
vboxusers:x:108:greg

/etc/passwd

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/bin/false
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/bin/false
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/bin/false
ftp:x:14:11:ftp:/srv/ftp:/bin/false
http:x:33:33:http:/srv/http:/bin/false
nobody:x:99:99:nobody:/:/bin/false
greg:x:1000:1000::/home/greg:/bin/bash
policykit:x:102:1001:PolicyKit:/:/sbin/nologin
hal:x:82:82:HAL daemon:/:/bin/false
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/bin/false
avahi:x:84:84:Avahi daemon:/:/bin/false
ntp:x:87:87:Network Time Protocol:/var/empty:/bin/false

No strange file permissions that I know of.

dmartins · 2009-03-09 02:27:34

After editing the groups file or using gpasswd you need to log out & back in before the new groups take effect. If you are in Xorg using a terminal then closing the terminal window is not enough..
Just a thought

&#32 Greg · 2009-03-09 03:01:36

Log in/out still fails.

&#32 Greg · 2009-03-09 19:57:07

Well, I figured out a solution. I renamed /home/greg to /home/backup, userdel'd myself, added a new user 'greg' and copied my home directory into there. Didn't even lose my session

bernarcher · 2009-03-09 23:14:31

Great!
This is what I probably would have suggested next.
Obviously something broke down the authentication processes string, probably somewhere in PAM. Deleting some faulty user and setting it up again usually fixes this.

Happy Arching!

Last edited by bernarcher (2009-03-09 23:18:33)

&#32 Greg · 2009-03-10 01:38:28

Thanks for all your help

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-08 21:28:26

[Solved] Group Screwup

#2 2009-03-08 21:40:15

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#3 2009-03-08 21:57:04

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#4 2009-03-08 22:12:00

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#5 2009-03-08 22:22:17

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#6 2009-03-09 02:27:34

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#7 2009-03-09 03:01:36

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#8 2009-03-09 19:57:07

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#9 2009-03-09 23:14:31

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

#10 2009-03-10 01:38:28

Re: [Solved] Group Screwup

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