Solaris user account status codes meaning

In this article, you will learn the meaning of status codes you see in ‘passwd’ command in Solaris 11 operating system.

About ‘passwd’ command

The passwd command changes the password or lists password attributes associated with the user’s login name. Additionally, authorized users can use passwd to install or change passwords and attributes associated with any login name.

When you run the passwd -s username command, you can see the user account status as below in Solaris 11 operating system.

username status

For example, when you run the below command to check the status of a user “User1”, you will see LK as status.

# passwd -s user1

Let us understand the meaning of these status codes in Solaris 11.

Meaning of user account status codes

• AL

The account was automatically locked due to the number of authentication failures reaching the configured maximum allowed.

• LK

The account is locked. passwd –l was run or the account was automatically locked due to the number of authentication failures reaching the configured maximum allowed.

• NL

The account is a non-UNIX authentication account. passwd –N has been run. Accounts in this state are not automatically locked when the system or per-user policy is LOCK_AFTER_RETRIES=YES.

• NP

This account has no password and is therefore open without authentication. passwd -d was run.

• PS

The account probably has a valid password.

• UN

The data in the password field is unknown. It is not a recognizable hashed password or any of the above entries.

• UP

This account has not yet been activated by the administrator and cannot be used.