Arch Linux

svalmont

Member

From: Londonderry, NH

Registered: 2013-04-05

Posts: 81

Website

Deleted Groups file

I've accidentally deleted my groups file.  What can I do to regenerate it?

Chazza

Wiki Maintainer

Registered: 2013-06-02

Posts: 506

Re: Deleted Groups file

Check if you have a /etc/group- backup file, you can restore from that.

If not, I think what you could do is reinstall the filesystem package to get the default /etc/group file back. Then run grpck as root - that will check the group file against the /etc/gshadow file and that should inform you of any missing groups which were added later on. You can then re-add any groups mentioned.

I might be wrong on this though so please wait for somebody else to confirm/deny.

WorMzy

Administrator

From: Scotland

Registered: 2010-06-16

Posts: 13,718

Website

Re: Deleted Groups file

If you don't have an external backup, you may have still have a local backup: /etc/group-.

If you don't have that, then reinstalling the filesystem package will get you the default file, you will then need to check your /etc/gshadow file and see what groups you are still missing, and who should be members of which group for your system.

EDIT: I second Chazza's recommendation of using grpck.

Last edited by WorMzy (2015-09-03 16:20:47)

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