From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Tue Sep 27 13:53:41 2005
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4572E16A41F
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Tue, 27 Sep 2005 13:53:41 +0000 (GMT)
	(envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org)
Received: from mail28.sea5.speakeasy.net (mail28.sea5.speakeasy.net
	[69.17.117.30]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EDC6043D4C
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Tue, 27 Sep 2005 13:53:40 +0000 (GMT)
	(envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org)
Received: (qmail 16306 invoked from network); 27 Sep 2005 13:53:40 -0000
Received: from dsl092-078-145.bos1.dsl.speakeasy.net (HELO be-well.ilk.org)
	([66.92.78.145])
	(envelope-sender <freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org>)
	by mail28.sea5.speakeasy.net (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>; 27 Sep 2005 13:53:39 -0000
Received: by be-well.ilk.org (Postfix, from userid 1147)
	id E0E4537; Tue, 27 Sep 2005 09:53:38 -0400 (EDT)
Sender: lowell@be-well.ilk.org
To: Jarrod Harch <jarrod.harch@gmail.com>
References: <f76ea10d05092520176ee1032e@mail.gmail.com>
From: Lowell Gilbert <freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org>
Date: 27 Sep 2005 09:53:38 -0400
In-Reply-To: <f76ea10d05092520176ee1032e@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <44achyhb19.fsf@be-well.ilk.org>
Lines: 21
User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: user account changes lost on reboot
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
Reply-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 13:53:41 -0000

Jarrod Harch <jarrod.harch@gmail.com> writes:

Jarrod Harch <jarrod.harch@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi, I just setup a new 5.4 install, which went fairly well. I added
> some accounts - I used adduser to do one account, and logged on as the
> user OK. The other account was created when I installed gdm as the
> display manager.
> 
> On rebooting the root password is missing, the user account I created
> is also gone (but the home directory and files are still there). gdm
> won't start, complaining that the gdm user doesn't exist.
> 
> I recreated the user again but it vanished after the next boot.
> 
> Does anyone know what might cause these account changes to be lost?
> Sorry if this has been answered already, I couldn't find anything on
> Google or mailing lists.

This is pretty weird all right.  Is the user's home directory still
present?  If you run vipw(8), do you see the user there?