On one server I have an application running as a non-root linux user. I forgot its password, so I was about to change it using root priviledges, but then I wondered if that could harm the application running with that user.

I looked online but I didn't find any answers to this. Does anything happens to the user's running processes when the user's password is changed?

CodePudding user response：

tl;dr

some testing did not cause any problems in a new user, it seems safe to change password without changing any access parameters.

Steps:

• Created a new user: testing

useradd -d /home/testing -m -p testing1 testing

• logged into 'testing' user in another terminal.
• launched htop (accesses system resources and updates constantly).
• changed password with passwd.
• changed back to the testing terminal and everything was working fine.

Caveat: Havent tested on any software where auth is required (ssh, pc etc...)

CodePudding user response：

The service will keep running, But it won't start the next time. You will have to reconfigure the service with the new password.