Linux : This account is currently not available

By | December 25, 2012

You might noticed this error trying to log into a Linux/Unix system through SSH or SFTP :

This account is currently not available.

The two main possible causes :

The shell does not exist or have been removed;
Typo error when entering the shell path at the user creation.

Have a look at the user file :

vi /etc/passwd

Look out for the user you are trying to connect with :

itechuser:x:1000:1010::/home/itechuser:/bin/sh

(the last part ” :/bin/sh ” indicate the shell)

To see the available shells on the system, simply do :

cat /etc/shells

Then, to change a user shell :

sudo chsh -s /bin/bash itechuser