Fixing “passwd: Authentication token manipulation error” when changing passwords
In: Linux
Written by: Taylor Gerring
11 Sep 2009
I attempted to update my password on Ubuntu today and encountered a strange error. I thought I’d disseminate my solution in hopes that it saves other time. A few suggest playing with pwconvert, /etc/shadow and /etc/passwd, but my solution was much simpler.
Basically, if you run passwd and receive the error,”passwd: Authentication token manipulation error”, the culprit is likely Likewise Open. Unfortunately, even having this installed — but not configured — will prevent you from using passwd to update a local users’s password. Fortunately, the fix is very easy if you don’t actually use Likewise Open – just remove it from your system with this command:
sudo apt-get remove likewise-open
Confirm the prompts and after apt-get is done, you should be able to use passwd like normal. Thanks to Bug 302026 for guiding me to the solution. The bad news is that if you need to change the password of a local account and need Likewise Open installed, you might be out of luck.
Comment Form
- HOWTO: Sync Google Calendar on iPhone OS 3.0
- HOWTO: Setup SQL Server Linked Server to MySQL
- Connecting to Oracle from SQL Server
- Windows 7 in VirtualBox: Shared Folders workaround
- Fixing "passwd: Authentication token manipulation error" when changing passwords
- Installing Windows 7 Beta 1 in VirtualBox 2.1.0
- HOWTO: Synchronize Dropbox and ZumoDrive on Windows
- Updating SSH known hosts fingerprints (WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!)
- HOWTO: Connect to MySQL in SSIS
- Efficiently query the DATE in DATETIME
- Stop SOPA
- Access system date in SSIS without a Script Task
- Connecting to Oracle with SSIS 2008
- Set Permissions Across SQL Server Database Instances
- SQL Server Principals & Roles Permission Audit
- New Office Outlook 2010 Data File Menu Item
- Why RAM Matters Less with OS X Lion
- Cache multiple values in a Map Container for fast in-memory lookup
- Ubuntu VirtualBox Server Redux Addendum
- Default column value to identity of different column
- KALImaR:Im having the same 11.10 problem with this irritating disaster...Solutions please [...]
- Balkan:Hi All, I have similar problem as Dwarakesh, I set the automatic login on, and after that my passwo [...]
- Creating an automated database backup by means of SQL Server Agent Job « Placko's SQL KB:[...] Configuring SQL Server Agent Operators by Taylor Gerring [...] [...]
- Dwarakesh:yeah even I'm getting the same error on my sony e series laptop!!!! I am currently running ubuntu 1 [...]
- Phil:Thanks - this article was a great help. [...]
10 Responses to Fixing “passwd: Authentication token manipulation error” when changing passwords
Babu
October 10th, 2009 at 5:49 am
thanks .. helped me a lot
Nacho
February 25th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Thanks a lot, dude!
RaghuRam
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:02 am
Thanks a lot buddy
it helped me to change the root password when I got the error
trying to change the root password
dushyant kayarkar
August 9th, 2010 at 7:44 am
I attempted to update my password on Ubuntu today and encountered a strange error. I thought I’d disseminate my solution in hopes that it saves other time. A few suggest playing with pwconvert, /etc/shadow and /etc/passwd, but my solution was much simpler.
Basically, if you run passwd and receive the error,”passwd: Authentication token manipulation error”, and passwd: password unchanged . error may be in likewise open and libnss-ldap. Unfortunately, even having this installed — but not configured — will prevent you from using passwd to update a local users’s password. Fortunately, the fix is very easy if you don’t actually use Likewise Open – just remove it from your system with this command:
sudo apt-get remove likewise-open
sudo apt-get remove libnss-ldap
Confirm the prompts and after apt-get is done, you should be able to use passwd like normal. Thanks to Bug 302026 for guiding me to the solution. and refer http://www.ideaexcursion.com/2009/09/11/fixing-authentication-token-manipulation-error-when-changing-passwords-with-passwd/ this u get an solution.
Passwd: Authentication token manipulation error | chrisspenblog
May 31st, 2011 at 7:01 pm
[...] (or unfortunately), this is a common if unhelpfully ambiguous error. Several people have posted theories for the underlying cause as well as fixes. Of course, none of the solutions [...]
slugstone
December 31st, 2011 at 11:54 pm
ok that great, but how do I get passed a lost password problem so I can run this command?
maryan
January 3rd, 2012 at 7:46 am
my only problem is: i forgot my superuser password, so i can not remove Likewise Open. I followed some online advice and reboot my machine, then the [recovery] option, and then> “Drop to root shell prompt”.
root@maryanche:~# passwd maryan
enter new UNIX password:
retype new UNIX password:
passwd: authentication token manipulation error
passwd: “password not updated” or something like that…
what do i do…?
thanks in advance…
Dwarakesh
January 10th, 2012 at 12:27 pm
yeah even I’m getting the same error on my sony e series laptop!!!!
I am currently running ubuntu 11.10!!!
thanks!
Balkan
January 18th, 2012 at 2:01 am
Hi All,
I have similar problem as Dwarakesh, I set the automatic login on, and after that my password is not recognized for updates and software installation. I have no problem with keyring. Trying to set the new password in recovery mode did not help. Using Ubuntu 11.10.
KALImaR
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Im having the same 11.10 problem with this irritating disaster…Solutions please