It’s a familiar scenario at the good ol’ helpdesk.
A user reports that they have entered the correct password multiple times.
“I know it’s the right one. I’ve used it 20 times today.”
I believe them. While entering a password while on autopilot does occasionally result in password failure, there are other factors that may also cause this issue.
- Misspelling your username
This is a fairly obvious one, but it’s sometimes difficult to catch. (Especially if you use this password 20 times a day.) Occasionally the cursor jumps around, causing extra characters in places you’d not expect. Always re-read your username to make sure it is spelled correctly. - You missed the password field
The cursor does it again. Somehow your mouse clicked elsewhere on the screen, so your typing is going nowhere. You may have typed your password correctly 100 times, but not one of them was logged by the program. As far as it knows, you haven’t even tried. You can remedy this by making sure little dots appear in the password field as you type. - Caps lock (Capital lock) was enabled
Passwords are known to be case sensitive, which means that “password” is not the same as “pAssWOrd”. A password must be typed exactly as it was when it was created. Any deviations between upper/lower case will cause it to fail. Capslock is a key that allows you to capitalize ALL of the letters you type while it is engaged. The key is located to the left of the letter “A” on most American keyboards, and it usually has a light (either on the key itself or near the top right of the keyboard) to let you know it’s engaged. If that light is on, tap the key to turn it OFF. - Num lock (Numeric Lock) was not enabled
On many American keyboards, there are two sets of number keys. One row is located above the letters, while the second (less common) is located to the right of the letters. This second keypad can cause quite a struggle for those who include numbers in their passwords, as it requires the num lock key to actually engage. Those keyboards typically have a num lock light near the top right (next to the caps lock light) to indicate the status. You want the Num Lock light ON if you wish to use that second keypad to type.
If none of these steps work, ask the website/program administrator the reset the password for you. This may be as simple as clicking a “reset password” link of picking up the phone.
Oh, and don’t feel bad – I’ve learned all of this from experience.