A reset of DirectAdmin admin password often ends up in errors like Error writing password request file.

As a result, users can’t log into the DirectAdmin control panel even after resetting the admin password.

Why does this happen? It can be due to the server having insufficient storage space or as a result of the desynchronization of time.

At Bobcares, we often get requests from our customers to fix errors while changing the admin password as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, we’ll see the reasons and how our Support Engineers fix the errors that occur when resetting the DirectAdmin admin password.

How we reset DirectAdmin admin password

Users often get frustrated when they forget their password or when they need to change their password because of security reasons.

But, this is not a huge problem.  Bobcares Support Engineers will help you to recover or reset the password.

Now, let’s see different methods that are used by our Support Engineers to reset the password.

1. Reset password via DirectAdmin admin panel

1. First, we log into the DirectAdmin panel.

2. Then, we click on the ‘Password’ button.

3. Next, we enter the current password and new password in the given interface and click on the ‘Submit’ button.

2. Recover password via command line

At Bobcares, we often get customers contacting us to recover their DirectAdmin password. We first check their DirectAdmin installation log. This is because, at the time of the DirectAdmin installation, the installation log will save the admin password. Below are the steps on how to recover your password:

1. We log into the server as a root user.

2. Then, we enter the following command to find the Admin password.

cat /var/log/directadmin/install.log | grep Admin

But, for security reasons, users normally reset the initial admin password. Hence, it may not work in most cases.

3. Reset DirectAdmin password from the command line

One of the easiest ways to reset the DirectAdmin admin password is through the command line. For that, our Support Engineers use the below command.

passwd admin

Then, we enter the password and change the admin password.

How we fix the error while changing the admin password for DirectAdmin

At Bobcares, where we have more than a decade of expertise in managing servers, we see many customers face problems when resetting their DirectAdmin admin password.

Now let’s see how our Support Engineers fixed the top errors.

Insufficient storage space

Very recently, one of our customers contacted us with a problem. The customer was getting the following:

Error writing password request file.

On checking, our Support Engineers found that the problem was due to insufficient storage on the server. Also, the partition that stores the DirectAdmin session files is likely full.

We used df -h command utility to check the amount of available space on the server. And, we assisted to delete the unwanted data from the server to free up the server.

Desynchronization of time

Similarly, some customers have to face problem while login into the DirectAdmin control panel after resetting the password. Then, they contact us to reset the password and our Support Engineers change the password via command line.

However, if still unable to log into the admin panel, you then check the bottom of the DirectAdmin login page. If you get this message:

Computer or server time out of sync by 56.50 hours.

This means the system clock or the client clock might be out of sync. This is the reason why are you are not allowed us to log in to DirectAdmin despite logging the correct account and password.

To set the system clock, we use the date command as follows in Redhat Systems.

date --set="Mmm DD HH:MM:SS YYYY"

This is how we fix the error.

[Having trouble while resetting the DirectAdmin admin password? We’ll fix it for you.] 

Conclusion

In today’s article, we have learned when changing the DirectAdmin admin password, errors can happen due to insufficient storage space on the server or because of the desynchronization of the system clock or the client clock. We also discussed the ways in which our Dedicated Engineers fix these errors.