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I understand that my users won't be able to keep their passwords.

Articles and Tips: qna

01 Apr 1996


Q.

Dear Ab-end: I've decided to take the plunge into NetWare 4 and NDS with all those fancy features. I have several NetWare 3.1x servers I want to upgrade to NetWare 4.1. I want to do an across-the-wire migration, but I understand that my users won't be able to keep their passwords. I don't really want all my users to lose their passwords. Is there anything I can do?

--Concerned in Canoga Falls

A.

Dear Concerned: There is no facility in Novell's Across-the-Wire Migration utility (MIGRATE.EXE) to copy existing passwords to NetWare 4, so your users would lose their passwords during the migration. However, there is a trick to keep user passwords while moving to NetWare 4:

  1. Make sure you've cleaned up the bindery files on your NetWare 3.1x servers. Delete any old users, groups, and so on. Make sure there are no duplicate names, such as group names that are the same as print queue names. Several third-party utilities are available to help you with this task. Once you've cleaned up the bindery, run the NetWare 3 BINDFIX utility.

  2. Bring up one of the NetWare 4.1 servers. Log into that server and also into one of the NetWare 3.1x servers (you'll need Admin- or Supervisor-equivalent access). Copy the NET$*.OLD files from the NetWare 3.x SYS:SYSTEM directory to the SYS:SYSTEM directory on the NetWare 4.1 server. Rename the files to NET$*.SYS (there should be three files).

  3. Start the NetWare 4.1 Installation program by typing LOAD INSTALL <Enter> at the NetWare 4.1 server console prompt. In the Install utility, remove Directory Services from the server. (If you don't remove Directory Services, the next step will fail.)

  4. While in the Install program, select Server Options and choose the option "Upgrade From 3.x or 4.x to NetWare 4.1." The installation process will convert those bindery files to NDS and maintain the users' passwords.

Now you can run the across-the-wire migration utility and your user passwords will be preserved.

* Originally published in Novell AppNotes

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