# Unable to change elastic user password
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-change-elastic-user-password/122887
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [March 7, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-change-elastic-user-password/122887 "2018-03-07T13:06:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@annk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/annk)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-change-elastic-user-password/122887/1 "2018-03-07T13:06:32Z")
I recently upgraded from 6.1 to 6.2. Until I installed x-pack plugin on elasticsearch and kibana I was able to query elastic using elastic user and empty password.
I tried following this documentation ([https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/installing-xpack-es.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/installing-xpack-es.html)) but I am getting this error.
# bin/x-pack/setup-passwords interactive
Failed to authenticate user 'elastic' against [http://loclhost:9200/\_xpack/security/\_authenticate?pretty](http://loclhost:9200/_xpack/security/_authenticate?pretty)
Possible causes include:
- The password for the 'elastic' user has already been changed on this cluster
- Your elasticsearch node is running against a different keystore
This tool used the keystore at /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.keystore
ERROR: Failed to verify bootstrap password
I also tried to change the password for elastic user , this is what I got .
curl -XPOST -u elastic 'localhost:9200/\_xpack/security/user/elastic/\_password?pretty' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
"password": "password"
}
'
Enter host password for user 'elastic':
{
"error" : {
"root\_cause" : [
{
"type" : "security\_exception",
"reason" : "failed to authenticate user [elastic]",
"header" : {
"WWW-Authenticate" : "Basic realm="security" charset="UTF-8""
}
}
],
"type" : "security\_exception",
"reason" : "failed to authenticate user [elastic]",
"header" : {
"WWW-Authenticate" : "Basic realm="security" charset="UTF-8""
}
},
"status" : 401
}
---
### Author:  [@rashmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rashmi)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-change-elastic-user-password/122887/2 "2018-03-07T19:34:50Z")
> [@annk](#):
>
> ERROR: Failed to verify bootstrap password
setup-passwords ( [elasticsearch-setup-passwords | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/setup-passwords.html)) uses the bootstrap password( [Setting Up User Authentication | X-Pack for the Elastic Stack [6.0] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/x-pack/6.0/setting-up-authentication.html#bootstrap-elastic-passwords)) in order to set the password for the users. After you set a password for the elastic user, the bootstrap password is no longer active and this is why you get the second error
ERROR: Failed to verify bootstrap password.
Were you able to login with either kibana or logstash\_system users and their auto-generated passwords ?
Now, if you don't remember the original password for elastic that setup-passwords created, or if you in any case need to reset it to something new, you can follow the instructions that @TimV has shared in this answer( [I lost the password that has been changed - #2 by TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/i-lost-the-password-that-has-been-changed/91867/2))
Hope this helps,
Thanks
Rashmi
---
### Author:  [@annk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/annk)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-change-elastic-user-password/122887/3 "2018-03-08T12:41:28Z")
Thanks.
I am still not able to reset password for elastic user following post mentioned above , but I was able to create another superuser and solve my problem that way.
curl -XPOST -u my\_admin 'localhost:9200/\_xpack/security/user/elastic/\_password?pretty' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
"password": "password"
}
> '
> Enter host password for user 'admin':
> {
> "error" : {
> "root\_cause" : [
> {
> "type" : "index\_not\_found\_exception",
> "reason" : "no such index",
> "resource.type" : "index\_or\_alias",
> "resource.id" : ".security-6",
> "index\_uuid" : "_na_",
> "index" : ".security-6"
> }
> ],
> "type" : "index\_not\_found\_exception",
> "reason" : "no such index",
> "resource.type" : "index\_or\_alias",
> "resource.id" : ".security-6",
> "index\_uuid" : "_na_",
> "index" : ".security-6"
> },
> "status" : 404
> }
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-change-elastic-user-password/122887/4 "2018-04-05T12:41:34Z")
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