cloud engineer
Perform this command to reset a Linux account that has been locked out due to multiple login failures. This involves resetting the pam_tally back down to zero. Some systems use pam_tally2. First, check what’s the current tally.
Current tally:
pam_tally --user=username pam_tally2 --user=username |
pam_tally --user=username pam_tally2 --user=username
To reset:
pam_tally --user=username --reset pam_tally2 --user=username --reset |
pam_tally --user=username --reset pam_tally2 --user=username --reset
To unlock a locked account, you need to run pam_tally2, which is a tool that keeps tracked of failed logins. Pam_tally2 is installed on most Linux systems. To unlock an account, just run the following commands:
pam_tally2 --user=ulysses --reset |
pam_tally2 --user=ulysses --reset
Have the user login again. It should work.
Some systems might be using an older pam_tally. The command for that will be.
pam_tally --user=ulysses --reset=0 |
pam_tally --user=ulysses --reset=0