# Neo4J initial password set not getting accepted in neo4j 4.1.9

**URL:** <https://community.neo4j.com/t/neo4j-initial-password-set-not-getting-accepted-in-neo4j-4-1-9/59448>\
**Category:** Neo4j Graph Platform\
**Tags:** migrated\
**Created:** [September 8, 2021, 10:04am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/neo4j-initial-password-set-not-getting-accepted-in-neo4j-4-1-9/59448 "2021-09-08T10:04:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vinitpayal](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/vinitpayal/32/3502_2.png) [@vinitpayal](https://community.neo4j.com/u/vinitpayal)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 10:04am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/neo4j-initial-password-set-not-getting-accepted-in-neo4j-4-1-9/59448/1 "2021-09-08T10:04:53Z")

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We are having trouble in using the password we set as part of neo4j initilisation.

We are on Neo4j 4.1.9 and trying to setup initial password using `neo4j-admin set-initial-password`, which was successful and even auth.ini reflacts that as now I have a user named neo4j there, which wasn't there before running this command.

But when we try to login using the set password it's giving error(there's no chance of typing the password wrong as it was simply copied from command used for setting the password)  
_The client is unauthorized due to authentication failure._

Screenshot for setting password and trying login with cypher-shell

 ![3X_9_d_9dcf6d813ffdaae39c2019e39914ce65b44c8629.png](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/uploads/neo4jcommunity/original/3X/d/3/d36ef3cff18478aeb2cf77fc978cb272826250bd.png "3X\_9\_d\_9dcf6d813ffdaae39c2019e39914ce65b44c8629.png")

Screenshot for content for auth.ini file

 ![3X_6_a_6a08524c5cc6c47e77db3abf905134fdd80a2cec.png](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/uploads/neo4jcommunity/original/3X/a/a/aa61dbeb37e30af656db22f62c2df9fcd8f9d3bf.png "3X\_6\_a\_6a08524c5cc6c47e77db3abf905134fdd80a2cec.png")

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jfragoulis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/jfragoulis/32/26243_2.png) [@jfragoulis](https://community.neo4j.com/u/jfragoulis)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 9:45am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/neo4j-initial-password-set-not-getting-accepted-in-neo4j-4-1-9/59448/2 "2022-08-22T09:45:43Z")

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This must be the reason:  
[https://neo4j.com/docs/operations-manual/3.5/configuration/set-initial-password/](https://neo4j.com/docs/operations-manual/3.5/configuration/set-initial-password/)  
"This must be performed before starting up the database for the first time."

If installing from a debian package, it will probably start automatically. To avoid that, mask the service beforehand:  
"sudo systemctl mask neo4j"

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jfragoulis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/jfragoulis/32/26243_2.png) [@jfragoulis](https://community.neo4j.com/u/jfragoulis)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 8:45am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/neo4j-initial-password-set-not-getting-accepted-in-neo4j-4-1-9/59448/3 "2022-08-22T08:45:28Z")

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This is a real issue (enterprise v3.5.5). How come is still unanswered?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vinitpayal](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/vinitpayal/32/3502_2.png) [@vinitpayal](https://community.neo4j.com/u/vinitpayal)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2022, 5:54am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/neo4j-initial-password-set-not-getting-accepted-in-neo4j-4-1-9/59448/4 "2022-09-08T05:54:02Z")

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Thanks [@jfragoulis](https://community.neo4j.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/15089), I think that's the issue as we are creating neo4j instance from a GCP compute. But I find it strange even the combination of default password neo4j isn't working as in case what am setting doesn't work then then the default one should have worked, no?