RE: why am I administrator?

RE: why am I administrator?

[David Peterson]

Here's what I've (empirically) determined about this and what I did about
it:

First, I'm on Win2k connected to an NT4 hosted domain. The userid I use to
log into windows is on the domain, not the local machine.

The cygwin setup program runs mkpasswd and mkgroup with the -l switch so it
only generates the local information.

It looks like id.exe (and probably login?) use the *name* you logged in with
as a key into /etc/passwd. If its not there it almost seems like it takes
the group ID and finds the first user in /etc/passwd with that group and
assumes you're that person. Or, I'm probably wrong.

Anways, I ran mkpasswd -d and grep'ed out the line with my user name and
appended that to /etc/passwd. Then cygwin got the right user ID and user
name, but the group was still messed up.

I then ran mkgroup -d and appended that to /etc/group. I'm not sure if it
was unique to our setup or what, but the local configuration had a group
with ID 513 and name None and our domain had a group with ID 513 and a
reasonable name. So I deleted the bogus looking entry from the local group
information (the one with the name "None").

After doing that id.exe returns the right user name, user id, group name and
group id and the shell environment variables get set to seemingly correct
values.

I *don't* have ntsec set in CYGWIN - I assume that would invalidate most of
what I did, but haven't tried.

-dave.


-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) [ mailto:lhall@rfk.com ]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 3:32 PM
To: soren@wonderstorm.com; cygwin@cygwin.com
Subject: Re: why am I administrator?


At 06:19 PM 1/10/2001, Soren Andersen wrote:
>On 10 Jan 2001, an entity purporting to be Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)
>[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) <lhall@rfk.com>] wrote [regarding Re: why
am I administrator?]
>
> > 
> > This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?
> > 
>
>Yes! That we do. I have long been puzzled and am still confused about 
>this. How do I do what Earnie wrote in the previous msg:
>


I'm definitely left with the impression that while you can edit the 
/etc/passwd file to make sure things get set up properly, the best solution
for those not using 9x is to run mkpasswd.  You should try this if you're
having problems.


>I want to know if I can be another user without actually logging in to NT 
>as somebody else (I don't have anyone else using my machine and I 
>don't want the expenditure of disk space and perhaps loading / boot 
>additional time that I think this increased complexity might cause). I 
>would like to be a different user so that I can build certain packages in a

>certain way -- logging to bash with a different env set up and ready to go.
>
>I tried the same thing: I set "USER=soren" in my NT env but bash always 
>recognizes me only as "Administrator".


Running mkpasswd should fix this.  As far as the rest of it is concerned, 
yourebest bet is to read the sections in the user guide regarding NT 
security.  Off-hand, I'm not sure you can actually change your user, 
although you can change your name to anything you like easily by changing
the name that goes with your user id in the /etc/passwd file.  Anyway, 
the user guide will give you better background on NT security and how
that affects your permissions and user options.  Just my opinion but I
doubt the specific information you're looking for will become part of an
FAQ.  The user documentation might be a possibility though (if there's not
already enough in there to answer to this issue).



Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX



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Re: why am I administrator?

[Christopher Faylor]

On Thu, Jan 11, 2001 at 10:32:33AM -0500, Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) wrote:
>At 02:35 AM 1/11/2001, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>>Create a correct /etc/passwd entry, that's it. `mkpasswd' will be
>>your friend. And read the documentation. That helps a lot and avoids
>>having _everything_ twice, in the documentation and in the FAQ.
>
>Right.  There's no need to make the FAQ a copy of the user documentation.
>An entry that points there for this kind of question would be helpful but
>anything much beyond that is overkill and promotes laziness.;-)

Welcome to the cygwin mailing list...

cgf

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Re: why am I administrator?

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 02:35 AM 1/11/2001, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>Create a correct /etc/passwd entry, that's it. `mkpasswd' will be
>your friend. And read the documentation. That helps a lot and avoids
>having _everything_ twice, in the documentation and in the FAQ.

Right.  There's no need to make the FAQ a copy of the user documentation.
An entry that points there for this kind of question would be helpful but
anything much beyond that is overkill and promotes laziness.;-)


Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX



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Re: why am I administrator?

[Corinna Vinschen]

On Wed, Jan 10, 2001 at 04:45:00PM -0500, Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) wrote:
> At 04:34 PM 1/10/2001, Dan Lipofsky wrote:
> > > > > USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> > > >USER is set in the /etc/profile function by issuing the `id -un`
> > > >command.  The id command gets it's name from the associated uid in the
> > > >/etc/passwd file.
> > > This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?
> >A FAQ would be great.  Obviously there are major
> >passwd differences between cygwin and unix.

???

> Actually, this surprises me.  I would've thought you would have wanted to
> change the name of the user in the /etc/passwd file that matched the output
> of "id -u".  This is what I have.  Of course, I made my /etc/passwd with 
> mkpasswd which makes understanding what needs to be change moot AFAICS.
> >Also what are the strings that look like
> >S-1-5-21-839522115-1060284298-1708537768-500
> That's the Windows ID.  See the mail archives and the user documentation
> on NTFS permissions for more info.

Folks, it sobers me a bit that you make things that complicated.

What is the problem? If you have no entry for your user in /etc/passwd
you will run into severel problems, beginning with the output of `id'.

Create a correct /etc/passwd entry, that's it. `mkpasswd' will be
your friend. And read the documentation. That helps a lot and avoids
having _everything_ twice, in the documentation and in the FAQ.

Corinna

-- 
Corinna Vinschen                  Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to
Cygwin Developer                                mailto:cygwin@cygwin.com
Red Hat, Inc.

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Re: why am I administrator?

[Earnie Boyd]

"David A. Cobb" wrote:

>
> I got around this another way that made sense to me.  I modified my
> Cygwin.BAT
> file (which I put in my HOME (My Documents) rather than in the root.
> Instead of
> directly starting bash, it executes "C:/bin/login -u Superbiskit".  Login
> knows
> from /etc/passwd that I like bash, and it starts it in the "correct" mode
> (interactive
> login shell).

Smart.  Real, smart.   I just may have to change the way I start Cygwin.

Cheers,
Earnie.


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Re: why am I administrator?

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 06:19 PM 1/10/2001, Soren Andersen wrote:
>On 10 Jan 2001, an entity purporting to be Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)
>[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) <lhall@rfk.com>] wrote [regarding Re: why am I administrator?]
>
> > 
> > This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?
> > 
>
>Yes! That we do. I have long been puzzled and am still confused about 
>this. How do I do what Earnie wrote in the previous msg:
>


I'm definitely left with the impression that while you can edit the 
/etc/passwd file to make sure things get set up properly, the best solution
for those not using 9x is to run mkpasswd.  You should try this if you're
having problems.


>I want to know if I can be another user without actually logging in to NT 
>as somebody else (I don't have anyone else using my machine and I 
>don't want the expenditure of disk space and perhaps loading / boot 
>additional time that I think this increased complexity might cause). I 
>would like to be a different user so that I can build certain packages in a 
>certain way -- logging to bash with a different env set up and ready to go.
>
>I tried the same thing: I set "USER=soren" in my NT env but bash always 
>recognizes me only as "Administrator".


Running mkpasswd should fix this.  As far as the rest of it is concerned, 
yourebest bet is to read the sections in the user guide regarding NT 
security.  Off-hand, I'm not sure you can actually change your user, 
although you can change your name to anything you like easily by changing
the name that goes with your user id in the /etc/passwd file.  Anyway, 
the user guide will give you better background on NT security and how
that affects your permissions and user options.  Just my opinion but I
doubt the specific information you're looking for will become part of an
FAQ.  The user documentation might be a possibility though (if there's not
already enough in there to answer to this issue).



Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX



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Re: why am I administrator?

[Soren Andersen]

On 10 Jan 2001, an entity purporting to be Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)
[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) <lhall@rfk.com>] wrote [regarding Re: why am I administrator?]

> 
> This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?
> 

Yes! That we do. I have long been puzzled and am still confused about 
this. How do I do what Earnie wrote in the previous msg:

[Earnie Boyd:]
> USER is set in the /etc/profile function by issuing the `id -un`
> command.  The id command gets it's name from the associated uid in the
> /etc/passwd file.
> 
> I can also guess that you are in the local administrator group and
> logged on as a domain user.  Upon setup a /etc/passwd file is created
> from the local sid.  You need to add your domain sid for your user
> account.

I want to know if I can be another user without actually logging in to NT 
as somebody else (I don't have anyone else using my machine and I 
don't want the expenditure of disk space and perhaps loading / boot 
additional time that I think this increased complexity might cause). I 
would like to be a different user so that I can build certain packages in a 
certain way -- logging to bash with a different env set up and ready to go.

I tried the same thing: I set "USER=soren" in my NT env but bash always 
recognizes me only as "Administrator".

   soren


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Re: why am I administrator?

[David A. Cobb]

"Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)" wrote:

> At 04:07 PM 1/10/2001, Earnie Boyd wrote:
> >Dan Lipofsky wrote:
> > >
> > > I installed the latest cygwin on my Win2000Pro machine.
> > > I was administrator when I installed it, but I am now
> > > trying to use it while logged on as dlipofsky.  However,
> > > cygwin still thinks I am administrator.  How can I fix this?
> > >
> > > USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> > > USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
> > > variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.
> > >
> >
> >USER is set in the /etc/profile function by issuing the `id -un`
> >command.  The id command gets it's name from the associated uid in the
> >/etc/passwd file.
> >
> >I can also guess that you are in the local administrator group and
> >logged on as a domain user.  Upon setup a /etc/passwd file is created
> >from the local sid.  You need to add your domain sid for your user
> >account.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Earnie.
>
> This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?
>
> Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
> RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
> 118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
> Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX

Yeah, a FAQ would be nice.  I had my asbestos undies well warmed for asking

the same question.  Chris solemnly avers that the answer is in the mail
archives,
even though I didn't find it within the previous 3 months.  I do believe
Chris,
his memory is far better than mine since I'm down to under 8 hours now.

I got around this another way that made sense to me.  I modified my
Cygwin.BAT
file (which I put in my HOME (My Documents) rather than in the root.
Instead of
directly starting bash, it executes "C:/bin/login -u Superbiskit".  Login
knows
from /etc/passwd that I like bash, and it starts it in the "correct" mode
(interactive
login shell).
--
David A. Cobb, Software Engineer, Public Access Advocate.  Public Key at:
< http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=superbiskit >
"Don't buy or use crappy software"
"By the grace of God I am a Christian man,
 by my actions a great sinner" -- The Way of a Pilgrim [R. M. French, tr.]



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RE: why am I administrator?

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 04:34 PM 1/10/2001, Dan Lipofsky wrote:
> > > > USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> > > > USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
> > > > variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.
>
> > >USER is set in the /etc/profile function by issuing the `id -un`
> > >command.  The id command gets it's name from the associated uid in the
> > >/etc/passwd file.
> > >
> > >I can also guess that you are in the local administrator group and
> > >logged on as a domain user.  Upon setup a /etc/passwd file is created
> > >from the local sid.  You need to add your domain sid for your user
> > >account.
>
> > This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?
>
>A FAQ would be great.  Obviously there are major
>passwd differences between cygwin and unix.
>
>I set up a line in /etc/passwd for dlipofsky with
>a made-up UID and GID.  This seems to work.


Actually, this surprises me.  I would've thought you would have wanted to
change the name of the user in the /etc/passwd file that matched the output
of "id -u".  This is what I have.  Of course, I made my /etc/passwd with 
mkpasswd which makes understanding what needs to be change moot AFAICS.


>So what happened before I had this?  It sounds like it couldn't
>find dlipofsky so it just when with the default.  Is that it?


It uses whatever name is associated with the current user id.


>Also what are the strings that look like
>S-1-5-21-839522115-1060284298-1708537768-500


That's the Windows ID.  See the mail archives and the user documentation
on NTFS permissions for more info.



Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX



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RE: why am I administrator?

[Dan Lipofsky]

> > > USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> > > USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
> > > variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.

> >USER is set in the /etc/profile function by issuing the `id -un`
> >command.  The id command gets it's name from the associated uid in the
> >/etc/passwd file.
> >
> >I can also guess that you are in the local administrator group and
> >logged on as a domain user.  Upon setup a /etc/passwd file is created
> >from the local sid.  You need to add your domain sid for your user
> >account.

> This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?

A FAQ would be great.  Obviously there are major
passwd differences between cygwin and unix.

I set up a line in /etc/passwd for dlipofsky with
a made-up UID and GID.  This seems to work.

So what happened before I had this?  It sounds like it couldn't
find dlipofsky so it just when with the default.  Is that it?

Also what are the strings that look like
S-1-5-21-839522115-1060284298-1708537768-500

- Dan

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Re: why am I administrator?

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 04:07 PM 1/10/2001, Earnie Boyd wrote:
>Dan Lipofsky wrote:
> > 
> > I installed the latest cygwin on my Win2000Pro machine.
> > I was administrator when I installed it, but I am now
> > trying to use it while logged on as dlipofsky.  However,
> > cygwin still thinks I am administrator.  How can I fix this?
> > 
> > USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> > USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
> > variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.
> > 
>
>USER is set in the /etc/profile function by issuing the `id -un`
>command.  The id command gets it's name from the associated uid in the
>/etc/passwd file.
>
>I can also guess that you are in the local administrator group and
>logged on as a domain user.  Upon setup a /etc/passwd file is created
>from the local sid.  You need to add your domain sid for your user
>account.
>
>Cheers,
>Earnie.



This seems to come up allot.  Maybe we need an FAQ for this?



Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX



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Re: why am I administrator?

[Earnie Boyd]

Dan Lipofsky wrote:
> 
> I installed the latest cygwin on my Win2000Pro machine.
> I was administrator when I installed it, but I am now
> trying to use it while logged on as dlipofsky.  However,
> cygwin still thinks I am administrator.  How can I fix this?
> 
> USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
> variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.
> 

USER is set in the /etc/profile function by issuing the `id -un`
command.  The id command gets it's name from the associated uid in the
/etc/passwd file.

I can also guess that you are in the local administrator group and
logged on as a domain user.  Upon setup a /etc/passwd file is created
from the local sid.  You need to add your domain sid for your user
account.

Cheers,
Earnie.

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RE: why am I administrator?

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 03:54 PM 1/10/2001, Dan Lipofsky wrote:


>Larry Hall wrote:
> > At 03:22 PM 1/10/2001, Dan Lipofsky wrote:
> > >I installed the latest cygwin on my Win2000Pro machine.
> > >I was administrator when I installed it, but I am now
> > >trying to use it while logged on as dlipofsky.  However,
> > >cygwin still thinks I am administrator.  How can I fix this?
> > >
> > >USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> > >USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
> > >variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.
> > <snip>
> > 
> > I believe USER is set in /etc/profile by setup.  Take a look there and
> > alter it as you wish.
>
>It is.  I see that it is set by
>         USER="`id -un`"
>So the question then become "Why is id returning the wrong thing?".
>I can change the line to set USER to $USERNAME, but perhaps there
>is something else that should be fixed here.



Yes, thanks for that reminder about how USER is set (I don't use setup
myself;-))  You want to edit your /etc/passwd to set your user name 
correctly for your user id.



Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX



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RE: why am I administrator?

[Dan Lipofsky]

Larry Hall wrote:
> At 03:22 PM 1/10/2001, Dan Lipofsky wrote:
> >I installed the latest cygwin on my Win2000Pro machine.
> >I was administrator when I installed it, but I am now
> >trying to use it while logged on as dlipofsky.  However,
> >cygwin still thinks I am administrator.  How can I fix this?
> >
> >USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
> >USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
> >variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.
> <snip>
> 
> I believe USER is set in /etc/profile by setup.  Take a look there and
> alter it as you wish.

It is.  I see that it is set by
	USER="`id -un`"
So the question then become "Why is id returning the wrong thing?".
I can change the line to set USER to $USERNAME, but perhaps there
is something else that should be fixed here.
- Dan

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Re: why am I administrator?

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 03:22 PM 1/10/2001, Dan Lipofsky wrote:
>I installed the latest cygwin on my Win2000Pro machine.
>I was administrator when I installed it, but I am now
>trying to use it while logged on as dlipofsky.  However,
>cygwin still thinks I am administrator.  How can I fix this?
>
>USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
>USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
>variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.
<snip>

I believe USER is set in /etc/profile by setup.  Take a look there and
alter it as you wish.



Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX



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why am I administrator?

[Dan Lipofsky]

I installed the latest cygwin on my Win2000Pro machine.
I was administrator when I installed it, but I am now
trying to use it while logged on as dlipofsky.  However,
cygwin still thinks I am administrator.  How can I fix this?

USER=administrator but USERNAME=dlipofsky.
USERNAME is set by the OS.  Here is a dump of some enviroment
variables, from bash and from the DOS prompt respectively.

$ env | egrep -i 'admin|user|lipo'
USERPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\dlipofsky
HOMESHARE=\\kurion_bdc\dlipofsky$
USERDNSDOMAIN=kurion.com
USER=administrator
TEMP=/e/DOCUME~1/DLIPOF~1/LOCALS~1/Temp
ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\All Users
APPDATA=C:\Documents and Settings\dlipofsky\Application Data
USERDOMAIN=KURION_NT
USERNAME=dlipofsky
HOME=/home/administrator

C:\>set | c:\cygwin\bin\egrep -i "user|admin|lipo"
ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\All Users
APPDATA=C:\Documents and Settings\dlipofsky\Application Data
HOMESHARE=\\kurion_bdc\dlipofsky$
TEMP=C:\DOCUME~1\DLIPOF~1\LOCALS~1\Temp
TMP=C:\DOCUME~1\DLIPOF~1\LOCALS~1\Temp
USERDNSDOMAIN=kurion.com
USERDOMAIN=KURION_NT
USERNAME=dlipofsky
USERPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\dlipofsky

Thanks,
Dan

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