New installation of 18.x -- root and admin password issues

[tdalej]

This has happened on both a VM installation and a physical installation on a Dell Powertedge 850 with 120GB SSD - several times on the VM - I did the physical install just to make sure:

After initial installation and setup, run through setup wizard and set root and admin passwords in the wizard.
Finish tweaking settings.
Shutdown.
Bring the system back up.
Neither the root nor admin account will login using the passwords set in the wizard, nor the installer, root or admin ID login with the default passwords.

What am I missing in setup?
Don't use the wizard?

[franco]

This cannot happen unless:

1. The password is wrong.
2. The keyboard map during password inputs changed.

Try a simple password.

Make sure you are running a real installation, not a live install image left in the VM.


Cheers,
Franco

[tdalej]

It did happen.
Several times. 
What would/could change the keyboard mapping?  I don't recall seeing anything other than default actions.

At one point I was saving the password in a text file and cut and pasting it into the web interface to ensure I _knew_ what was being used when I changed it in the wizard.

I boot from the dvd iso image, run through the installation where I see it partition and format the disk, and copy the installation over. 
Is that not a real installation?

[franco]

> It did happen.
> Several times.

Not claiming otherwise. In 99% of all cases it's a password mismatch.

> At one point I was saving the password in a text file and cut and pasting it into the web interface to ensure I _knew_ what was being used when I changed it in the wizard.

Again, use simple characters to make sure it's not a special character encoding that causes this. It's an easy check.

> I boot from the dvd iso image, run through the installation where I see it partition and format the disk, and copy the installation over. 
> Is that not a real installation?

As long as you unmount the DVD afterwards to ensure the real installation comes up. I'm merely mentioning it because others have asked similar questions about their installs but it turned out they booted the install media again.

FWIW, you can set a "blank" password in the installer and use "opnsense" during first login. It seems you are capable of logging into the GUI to use the wizard so that means in general a login works until you set your own password.


Cheers,
Franco

[tdalej]

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, I'll admit that right up front.

I haven't tried a blank password yet.

I just ran through installation again on a VM (ESXI 6.5) with the current amd64-dvd iso image and set the root password to "abc123" during the install.
After reboot (and making sure the dvd ISO was disconnected during the boot) I logged into the GUI as root. (using "abc123" as password).
Went through the wizard and left the root password unchanged, and tried to set the admin ID password to the same.
I logged out of the GUI, and tried to login as admin and it failed - incorrect username/password error.
I tried root, and it worked.
I looked in the access section and there is no admin user id defined, only root. 
Is the admin ID hidden in the GUI?

At any rate, I went to the firmware section and did the check for updates/apply updates. 
Just see the spinning wheel for a _very, very_ long time. (Hour or more.)
Went to the CLI and did the "update from CLI" and it's downloading and extracting updates.

After the update completed, it rebooted and I'm able to login as root. 
I'm going to try adding the admin ID and  then shutdown/restart  and see if  I hit the same issue.

[franco]

There may just be a bit confusion here. We do not have an "admin" user, it's "root". The wizard password change is for the "root" user.

But you can quickly create your own "admin" user, add them to the admin group and that's it.


Cheers,
Franco

[tdalej]

Ah... Light bulb has gone on. 
The page where you change the root password has references to admin all over it, leading the logically challenged to assume you are changing the admin ID password.

[franco]

I agree... I've changed it for 18.7:

https://github.com/opnsense/core/commit/37f85263

Happy to have cleared this up


Cheers,
Franco