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Disable user accounts without deleting them System
I wanted to disable a user from logging in or appearing in the user list, but I didn't want to delete the account. It turns out this is possible using the "*" in the password field of the NetInfo database. Just like in Unix. Standard warning: Netinfo changes can render your system unusable ... so use caution!

Using NetInfo Manager, select the user's short name and enable NetInfo changes by clicking the lock icon. Select the user's password entry and replace the encrypted password with * (shift-8). Save your changes. The user is now disabled and cannot log in. Even better, they won't appear if you have "List of Users" selected for the login screen. This is useful to lock an account that might be compromised or hibernate accounts not needed. To re-enable the user, just reset the user's password in the Accounts Preferences.

NOTE: DO NOT disable the administrative account (the first account created). I haven't tried it but I'm sure it would be very, very bad.
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Disable user accounts without deleting them | 3 comments | Create New Account
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Disable user accounts without deleting their password
Authored by: grrl_geek on May 02, '03 12:28:51PM

Actually, you can just put an asterisk (*) in front of the
scrambled password to disable the user account without deleting
their password. Try enabling and disabling the root account and
you'll see this behavior.

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Sinker sucker socks pants, apocryphal awry!



[ Reply to This | # ]
Disable user accounts without deleting them
Authored by: agamemnon on May 08, '03 11:13:48PM

If you do disable your admin account, you can recover by booting
into single-user mode (command-S on boot).



[ Reply to This | # ]
Disable user accounts without deleting them
Authored by: finne on Jun 10, '04 09:14:41AM

seems to be broken in 10.3...

(tried adding asterix in front of password using netinfo manager)



[ Reply to This | # ]