Hi guys: Thanks for the input and helpful suggestions. I prefer the solution that allows a FTP login without a shell. A couple of you suggested I use something like /sbin/nologin and then FTP would work, but no shell would be allowed Actually, that is the first thing I tried, as nologin is my default shell when I add users. I have to add /bin/bash to get vsftpd to accept the conection. So I checked /etc/shells and /sbin/nologin is there. Apparantly that won't work. I have other services/users I might want to use with shells from time to time so I want the defalut to be "no shell unless I say so", not "get a shell unless I say no". Preferably controlled at teh password file. So, I tried Alin Osan's suggstion of modifying the pam file, and that *did* work. Thank you very much Alin. Much appreciated. Scott