I am trying to push out password changes to a bunch of SUSE boxes. Were running local password authentication (yea I know ldap, but its not an option right now). Anyway. The usermod -p Encrypted_passwd userid command resets the password but doesnt update the last password change filed in the shadow file and if your running password aging the account expires out even if the password is changed. Anyone else seeing this issue and found a work around.

Gary
#grep myuser /etc/shadow
myuser:$BIG UGLY STRING:13662:0:30:10:180::

#usermod -p 'Different big ugly string' isgs294

#grep myuser /etc/shadow
myuser:$Different big ugly string:13662:0:30:10:180::

# passwd myuser
Changing password for myuser.
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Password changed

#grep myuser /etc/shadow
myuser:newpassword string:13732:0:30:10:180::

Note the last change filed went from 13662 to 13732 when password was used and didnt change when usermod was used.

Gary