[cobalt-users] Password Lock

[Sameja@xxxxxxxxx (Sameja)]

Dear Ed,

Thank you very much for your information, however I was just asking there is no
way I can access the locked mails, because if I delete the user file all the
mails are lost, how can I access these mails ??? I have tried backup and restore
and it returns back to its original position of locking. Is there a way of
repairing this file so that the person can retrieve his messages ???


Thanks


--__--__--

Message: 9
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 13:38:46 -0500
From: Ed Booher <ebooher@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Organization: One Call - Internet Tech
To: cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [cobalt-users] Password getting locked o RAQ2
Reply-To: cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Look for two files in /var/spool/mail/ one is "visible" and is
named user.lock the second is "invisible" and is named .user.pop,
the reason it is "invisible" is because by default UNIX/Linux
doesn't display files with a . as the first character of the file
name.  Delete the three files associated with the user.  user ,
user.lock , and .user.pop , this *will* cause the user to lose
what ever mail was "locked" in the user.lock file when his POP3
client exited incorrectly.  (Usually due to loss of dial up
access, ie call waiting, etc.)  The sendmail daemon will recreate
the user on the next incoming piece of mail for that particular
user.  You should then be able to access the file just fine with
Outlook.

*NOTE* You don't *always* have to delete the main user file,
however, I have found that a large percentage of the time the
file has become corrupted (hence the reason to write out into the
.lock file) and will just recreate the .lock file the next time
the user attempts to access the account via POP3.

Just FYI, I don't claim to know the exact details, but I believe
that the reason the .lock and the .pop files are created are
during the time a user is accessing the account via POP3 to tell
the sendmail daemon that this file is currently in use and being
downloaded and that it should allow no other user / account
session to access the file until it has completed and has removed
the .lock and .pop files.

Ed Booher
Network Engineer
One Call Internet
http://www.onecall.net/


Sameja wrote:
> 
> I have one problem, a user on cobalt has changed his password and he tried to
> login more than 3 times and the passowrd locked.
> 
> I tried to change his password in the administrator page, but still I can't
> login using Outlook Express. The password is rejected. The strange thing is
that
> I can login into personal folders and change settings, do backup etc., How can
I
> solve this problem ???
> 
> The stranger thing is that I can use some web engine to access POP3 accounts
> like mollymail I can access and see my messages but not through any POP3
client.
> Please assist.
> 
> Mansoor Sameja
>