Password wth # sign - help!!!

[Mike_789]

Hello,

Newbie to HP-UX; just finished configuring the operating system (HP-UX 11), and when the setup prompted me for a password, I used one that has the special characters # and !, and it accepted it just fine. On other OSes this isn't a problem, but now I can't log into the box! Unfortunately, I wasn't given the opportunity to create a new user, so I'm stuck trying to log in as root. When i try logging in from the command line, I get the error "Login Incorrect". At the CDE login prompt, it looks like I log in successfully because the login screen goes away, but then a few seconds later comes back. HELP!!

[Sundar_7 · Accepted solution]

There are couple of ways you can do this

1) Escape the special characters while entering password. If your password is Mike#123. Enter "Mark\#123" in the password prompt

2) Boot the system in single user mode and change the password to something else

3) If you would like to be able to use # character as password then (you can do this, only after following option 1 or 2).

# stty -a < /dev/ttyconf

Look for the function that is set to "#". If erase, for example, has been set to # then

# stty erase ^H < /dev/ttyconf > /dev/ttyconf

Now you can use "#" in the password.

- Sundar

[Hoang Chi Cong_1]

Hi Mike.
I think the more faster if you recovery the root password. Boot the system in single-user mode and change the root password.
Just type command: reboot
after that using command : init 3
You can refer to Admin I guide for more information.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[melvyn burnard]

The # and @ characters have special meanings at login time.

from the man page for passwd:

WARNINGS
Avoid password characters which have special meaning to the tty driver, such as # (erase) and @ (kill). You may not be able to login with these characters.

[MarkSyder]

Jim - doesn't "init 3" boot it to run level 3? I think Mike needs "init s", or as an alternative, interrupt the boot and type "bo pri isl"

Answer yes to interact, then:

hpux -is

Mark Syder (like the drink but spelt different)

[Laurent Menase]

you must escape the # or @ with a leading \

for instance 1\#23 if your passwd was 1#23

[Mike_789]

Thanks to everyone who contributed a response to this! I was able to log in by escaping the # sign with a backslash. From there I changed the password....Phew!