3
Have given this a good web-search, and inside the forum also, but cannot yet find.
I have the Privileged user cyg_server as a CygWIN user in /etc/passwd file, and it also shows up in its own right as a Windows 10 administrator user on UAC dialog boxes. That latter in itself is a cause of issues, as I am trying to enable the hidden Windows 10 administrator account, which I have been given to believe I should be able to do without any existing admin authentication. So I'm stuck unless I can sign in as cyg_server.
I cannot actually recall setting up SSH or going through any process to manually create that user, but it would be useful to be able to find its password, which is presumably a CygWIN default. I have searched files on the CygWIN directory setup, and tried a raft of likely possibilities - 'root', 'password', 'cygwin' etc etc without success, but still no luck.
Is there any way I can find it via the CygWIN console, or via a a line command ?
robgoch
Posted 2016-01-19T11:08:01.933
Reputation: 63
3Usually, the idea of a password is, that you cannot retrieve it. The only alternative would be to reset it to something else. – LPChip – 2016-01-19T11:13:37.577
Thanks; like I say, I wasn't aware of having set this up (-tho' I suspect that that has to be a manual task). I certainly didn't expect Windows to be using it as a generic admin account, which is clearly what is happening now that my 'usual' admin account has become unavailable. So I currently cannot perform any admin at all on the Windows machine unless I can log in as 'cyg_server': that is a most unexpected outcome, and hence I need to find the password, or - just as useful, given I no longer need CygWIN, get rid of the user altogether. – robgoch – 2016-01-19T11:37:53.330
Also, you cannot enable or disable other user accounts from an online system without being a local admin. (Imagine the possibilities for attackers if you could!) – Ben N – 2016-01-19T15:42:16.040
Sadly, I appreciate totally that requirement for admin-level restriction and security; my real concern is in finding that a little-utilised admin user, related to a very particular context, and with little apparent significance outside of CygWIN, should turn out to be a fully-fledged Windows admin, with which I am now being forced to sign in if I wish to perform any task on my machine (-such as enabling the hidden default admin, which is what I need to do). – robgoch – 2016-01-19T16:11:26.530