Password Character Issue Using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration

[pieyedpiper]

Summary: Problem with the password change facility in Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration when using the $ character, (maybe others as well). This does not appear to be a keyboard set up issue.

I set up 2018-03-13-raspbian-stretch on a Pi3B+ and couldn't understand why I couldn't log in as user pi after changing the password using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration. I initially assumed finger trouble and reimaged the microSDHC card. Same problem. So after various experiments I came to the conclusion that the problem was the use of the $ in the password but only when using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration to set this up. Before you ask, yes, I checked the keyboard was producing the correct characters. The final set of tests to demonstrate this problem were as follows:

Test 1. New image, boot up for the first time and change the user pi password using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration - the password included numbers, upper case, lower case and @ and # characters but not $. Password confirmed successfully changed. Reboot and confirmed ok to log in with this new password.
Test 2. Using a terminal window, changed password using sudo passwd pi. The password exactly as in previous Test 1 but with a $ added. Password confirmed successfully changed. Reboot and confirmed ok to log in with this new password.
Test 3. Using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration, change the password to include numbers, upper case, lower case and @ and # characters and $. The password had to be changed to a reasonable degree to avoid being rejected as too similar to previous passwords but this new password did include the three special characters as used in Test 2. Password confirmed successfully changed. Reboot and confirmed could not log in with this new password.

So the problem seems to be that even though the keyboard is set correctly and not transposing characters, the password change facility in Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration seems to have a problem with the $ character (and maybe others). As proven by setting the password with the $ character from a terminal window.

I think I saw this when previously setting up the same image (2018-03-13-raspbian-stretch) on a Pi3B but ignored it as finger trouble and probably decided to use a new password (which didn't have the $) - I wasn't taking notes so it's a bit hazy but I'm working on the basis that this is not a Pi3B+ issue.

FYI, the 32GB microSDHC card is cleaned up using SDFormatterv4 and the image is written to the clean card using win32diskimager-1.0.0. I tried with two different microSDHC cards from Sandisk and Transcend.

So I have a workaround but want to figure out why this is happening. Any ideas?

[klricks]

I did some testing and found this:

If $ is first character of password then the GUI change app will not confirm at all.
If $ is the last character of PW then it is confirmed and will work normally for login.
If $ appears anywhere else in the PW then the PW is confirmed but does NOT work for login.

I did not try every combination of the above.

If you try this be sure you are set to autoboot to desktop as user pi so you can recover using sudo passwd pi

[pieyedpiper]

Thanks for the rapid feedback.

Just an additional data point, during my initial experiments I had the $ as the first character when changing password using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration and the change was successfully confirmed, obviously couldn't log in afterwards. I'll run that experiment again to get a definitive update.

[pieyedpiper]

I ran the same test and confirmed your data.

I ran password change using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration and found that the character " was not accepted anywhere in a new password - password was not confirmed.

I then tried all the other special characters (apart from $ and ") as seen on the keyboard, this string !£%^&*()_-+={[}]:;@'~#|\<,>.?/ was accepted and confirmed and I could also subsequently log in. NOTE: that doesn't preclude a problem with one of those characters when inserted at the front or end of the string. That needs more work.

So it looks like care needed when planning on using $ and " in passwords and using Desktop/Preferences/Raspberry Pi Configuration to make the changes until the root cause is understood and fixed in a future update.

[pieyedpiper]

Just want to clarify that my original previous post had a typo in the 3rd para of the last post. I included " and $ in the string by error, this is now corrected in the edited post.

[klricks]

Just want to clarify a typo in the 3rd para of the last post. I included " and $ in the string by error, this is now corrected in this post.
...

You can edit any of your previous posts by clicking on edit button.

[NewBEE20]

i have had the same issue when i use the Raspberry pi configuration user interface and change the password to have the $ character in the middle of the password. the raspberry pi accepts it as i duplicated it in both lines (enter new password/Confirm new password), but if i try and use VNC Ciewer or PuTTY, it will not recognize my password that has the $ character in the middle of it. Is there a way to bring this up to the raspberrypi gods?

i am using the latest updates of NOOBS as of today.

[klricks]

This issue has been fixed after doing latest upgrade.

Code: Select all

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade