Information on how to change the local user password on HP-UX
Question: How do we change the local user password on HP-UX?
Answer: On HP-UX, the passwd command is designed to update the databases listed in the nsswitch.conf file or the specific repositories you indicate with the -r option.
Therefore, by default, you can use passwd command without any command line options to update your password wherever necessary.
Once you install DirectControl and join the domain, however, Active Directory becomes the primary repository for user account information and changing the password for any local user account you need to maintain outside of Active Directory requires you to explicitly specify the repository to update with the -r option.
For example, if you want to change the password for a local user account in /etc/passwd, you must specify the files repository when you run the passwd command:
passwd -r files user
If you want to update the password for an Active Directory user account, you can use either the DirectControl adpasswd command or the standard passwd command without the repository option. For example: