NOLOGIN(8) System Administration NOLOGIN(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

nologin - politely refuse a login

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**nologin** \[**-V**] \[**-h**]

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

**nologin** displays a message that an account is not available and exits non-zero. It is intended as a replacement shell field to deny login access to an account.

If the file */etc/nologin.txt* exists, **nologin** displays its contents to the user instead of the default message.

The exit status returned by **nologin** is always 1.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

**-c**, **--command** *command*

**--init-file**

**-i** **--interactive**

**--init-file** *file*

**-i**, **--interactive**

**-l**, **--login**

**--noprofile**

**--norc**

**--posix**

**--rcfile** *file*

**-r**, **--restricted**

These shell command-line options are ignored to avoid **nologin** error.

**-h**, **--help**

Display help text and exit.

**-V**, **--version**

Display version and exit.

# [NOTES](#NOTES)

**nologin** is a per-account way to disable login (usually used for system accounts like http or ftp). **nologin** uses */etc/nologin.txt* as an optional source for a non-default message, the login access is always refused independently of the file.

[**pam\_nologin**(8)](/man/os/util-linux/pam_nologin.8) PAM module usually prevents all non-root users from logging into the system. [**pam\_nologin**(8)](/man/os/util-linux/pam_nologin.8) functionality is controlled by */var/run/nologin* or the */etc/nologin* file.

# [HISTORY](#HISTORY)

The **nologin** command appeared in 4.4BSD.

# [AUTHORS](#AUTHORS)

*Karel Zak* <kzak@redhat.com>

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**login**(1)](/man/os/util-linux/login.1), [**passwd**(5)](/man/os/util-linux/passwd.5), [**pam\_nologin**(8)](/man/os/util-linux/pam_nologin.8)

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

For bug reports, use the *issue tracker* <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

The **nologin** command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from *Linux Kernel Archive* <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.

2026-10-19 util-linux 2.42.4

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Document: nologin(8) from util-linux 2.42.4-r1 (Chainguard OS)