How to know password of the user

[chakribobby]

hi
I have root privilege to the Linux system
My problem is “how can I find the password of the particular user with out changing the password of that user”

thanks in advance

[oz]

hi
I have root privilege to the Linux system
My problem is “how can I find the password of the particular user with out changing the password of that user”

thanks in advance

The only way for a root user to know a user's password would be to ask the user directly for his/her password. Root users cannot read a user's password, but can only change them because they are encrypted upon creation.

[Cabhan]

Indeed. Passwords are stored in an encrypted format in the /etc/shadow file. The encryption used is a 1-way encryption: there is no way to restore the original password from the encrypted version. Password are checked by encrypting the entered password and checking if the encrypted versions match.

If a user has lost his password, you can use the "passwd USER" command to change USER's password.