I'm facing a problem here, where i have my server installed with Mandrake 9.2.

I can't use other userID to login to both my server and from client to samba yet i can only use root to login.

when i try to login through the console mode, i believe the system can find the users but it prompted me a message that the /home/directory for all of the users except root are missing.

any suggestions?

thank's

1st :
Create a directory in /home/ for each user and bind that directory to the user in /etc/passwd .
Remember to chown those home directories so that it belongs only to the user it is supposed to.

2nd :
Make sure your users has been given a password. You can assign them a password by issue this command :
passwd <username>
and then follow the instructions.

3rd :
Make sure you are in runlevel 3 or above. Check /etc/inittab and edit if you have to.

4th :
Come back here and give us some feedback

for example:

i have a user: abc

inside my /etc/passwd/ got: "abc:x:525:100::/home/abc:/bin/bash"

So, I don't think ur method will help much.

thank's anyway for ur help, do u have other methods?

or anyone here encountered this kind of problem before? thank's a lot

Have you got a /home/abc directory?

sure i have

And you are in runlevel 3 or above?

yeah, i am.

You should be able to login even though the home directory is missing or falsely configured.
Are you refused login and reprompted to login again or do you end up in some void?

ok, when i tried to login using other users beside root, it prompted me "no directory for /home/<user>" for a while only, then it'll go back directly to the login screen asking for the login again.

get what i meant?

Just to make sure you are not skipping any necessary steps while creating your users, try using the Users wizard while running a GUI, either KDE or GNOME. It is found under Configure My Computer. Create a brand new user.

It may be humbling to not use the command line, but at least you know that if a user the wizard created didn't work something else is wrong. Check all the boxes like "Create a home directory" and such. Then try to logon to your machine with that user. If it works you might have faulty steps to create users.

Basically, isolate your possibilities and never exclude the human from the equation. However, if you are a super chief master commander of the command line, don't bother with the GUI. You must be good.

Another thing to look for is if your /home directory mounted properly. The root's home is in another location and doesn't need /home. See if you can cd to something under /home. If this directory doesn't mount you could have a problem.

ian

As the matter of fact... make sure you check for /home. I don't create directories for my users because they all use FTP. FTP users don't need home directories, but I also disabled them from logging on to the local machine. Make sure /home mounted properly.

in addition to tumana's suggestions:
How did you create the users home directories? If manually, did you change ownership of the directories to the respective users?

anyway, thank's for all of the suggestions.

for tumana:
I have tried to do that umpteen times, but still gave me the same response "no directory /home/<user>!".
And because of u stated it out, i tried it once again, and it still gave me the same response.

as root, i can easily cd any of the /home/ subfolder and i can even create a new file in /home/
of any of the users. so, what do u think? does it meant it's mounted properly?

the problem is i can't use other users to login, not whether i like about GUI or command based. I'm using both of them to test login. but all gave me the same response. what do u think?

for darthtux:
I'm not an expert, i don't create the /home/ directory manually, it's created automatically while i create the user, if i'm using command based, i'll just be using "useradd (comes with all of the -bla bla bla, depends on the situation)" and if i'm using GUI, tumana has stated out the way / method.

so, how?

just as an aside, since the computer I am using only has one user (me) is there any inherent danger apart from the blalantly obvious one to being permanently logged in as root?
Saves those pesky 'su' commands you have to type while modifying stuff

I have never experienced this problem myself before. Perhaps I run into a solution shortly. Often solutions to problems comes to you when not looking for it.

Ive never used Mandrake above version 7. This might be a Mandrake specific issue.

Anyway. Im out of ideas for now. Ill get back when I find something that might be useful.

Someone could just get control of you computer and ddos whoever they want. So, other than calls from the FBI or someone ruining your system there's not much to worry about

Have you tried the adduser command instead of useradd?