Users vanish from User Settings after changes made to /etc/passwd

[pamindic]

Binary package hint: gnome-system-tools

This may be related in some sense to 115957, reported as fixed. After manually changing a users's UID in /etc/passwd and his group in /etc/group, the user disappears from the Gnome User Settings applet. The user still exists on the system, and the applet objects that they exist if you try to recreate that user. A re-boot makes no difference - the user remains absent from the applet (Intrepid), and it seems to be permanent.

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Thanks for reporting that bug. Could you be a little more precise? Is the "applet" you refer to the System->Administration->Users and Groups tool? Does the problem you describe happen with any modification performed to /etc/passwd or /etc/group?

[Nelson (nne)]

I have the same problem, (10.04 LTS) , either changing the UID in the passwd or using usermod:
- The System->Administration->Users and Groups tool stops seeing that user
- The login screen (GDT? GDM?) stops presenting the user as a possible login option.

In general, changing a user id (either through Users and Groups tool, either with usermod, either directyly in passwd, and then chowning the files..) doesn't work in ubuntu.

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Only users with a UID => 1000 are shown in GUIs, since other users are system ones. What UID did you use?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-system-tools (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]