diff -up shadow-4.1.4.3/libmisc/find_new_gid.c.uflg shadow-4.1.4.3/libmisc/find_new_gid.c
--- shadow-4.1.4.3/libmisc/find_new_gid.c.uflg	2011-05-20 21:18:24.474018778 +0200
+++ shadow-4.1.4.3/libmisc/find_new_gid.c	2011-05-20 21:18:43.178018729 +0200
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ int find_new_gid (bool sys_group,
 		gid_min = (gid_t) getdef_ulong ("GID_MIN", 1000UL);
 		gid_max = (gid_t) getdef_ulong ("GID_MAX", 60000UL);
 	} else {
-		gid_min = (gid_t) getdef_ulong ("SYS_GID_MIN", 101UL);
+		gid_min = (gid_t) 1;
 		gid_max = (gid_t) getdef_ulong ("GID_MIN", 1000UL) - 1;
 		gid_max = (gid_t) getdef_ulong ("SYS_GID_MAX", (unsigned long) gid_max);
 	}
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ int find_new_gid (bool sys_group,
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+        /* if we did not find free preffered system gid, we start to look for
+         * one in the range assigned to dynamic system IDs */
+        if (sys_group)
+                gid_min = (gid_t) getdef_ulong ("SYS_GID_MIN", 101UL);
 
 	/*
 	 * Search the entire group file,