# How to transfer the passwd file



## dpalme (Dec 28, 2014)

Is there a way to transfer the passwd file from an old server to a new one without losing the entries that are already in the password file?

I thought about rsyncing it to a new directory and then stripping out the duplicates and then do a

`echo /path/old_passwd >> /path/to/new/passwd`

I'm leery as I don't want to completely hose up a new install.


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## jrm@ (Jan 3, 2015)

Back up both copies of /etc/master.passwd!  Then, try something like `cat old_master.passwd >> /etc/master.passwd`, then remove duplicates.  Next do `# pwd_mkdb -p /etc/master.passwd && pwd_mkdb /etc/master.passwd`.


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## junovitch@ (Jan 4, 2015)

To cover all bases:
passwd(5) describes four files dealing with user accounts.  


> FILES
> /etc/passwd         ASCII password file, with passwords removed
> /etc/pwd.db         db(3)-format password database, with passwords removed
> /etc/master.passwd  ASCII password file, with passwords intact
> /etc/spwd.db        db(3)-format password database, with passwords intact



group(5) also covers the /etc/group file.


> FILES
> /etc/group



If this was a minor version bump, there should be no harm in just copying the /etc/paswd, /etc/master.passwd, and /etc/group from one system to another and running `pwd_mkdb /etc/master.passwd` and `pwd_mkdb /etc/passwd`.

If this was a major bump, such as 9.X to 10.X, you would have a new user like the unbound user added and mentioned in /usr/src/UPDATING.

Personally I try to make clean installs as clean as possible and only copy what I need.  Normally in this situation I think I would just manually paste the few lines in I need using `vipw` since that sanity checks the changes and updates the password database afterwards.


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