Resetting the Admin Password

Tips on how to reset the built-in ‘admin’ password for:

• PaperCut MF or NG
• Mobility Print (without NG/MF)
• Mobility Print (with NG/MF)

PaperCut MF/NG - change the ‘admin’ password

PaperCut has a built-in administrator account (referred to as the “internal admin”) that is available even if a connection to the domain/directory cannot be established. The default username for this account is admin, and the password is set during the setup wizard when the system was first installed. This account is not related to the domain administrator account.

There are two methods for changing the Admin Password:

• Method 1: Updating the password in the server.properties file on the server directly, then restarting the server.  One consideration when selecting this method is that it requires a server reboot, which might take time and cause disruption to your organization.
• Method 2: Updating the password in the PaperCut MF Web admin interface .

Method 1: Updating the password in the server.properties file

1. Log on to the desktop of the server running PaperCut.
2. Navigate to the server.properties file on the server.
   • Linux: in /Home/PaperCut/server/server.properties
   • Mac: in /Applications/PaperCut [NG/MF]/server/
   • Windows: in in C:\Program Files\PaperCut <MF/NG>\server\server.properties
     
     Note: If you don’t see the server.properties file, it might be tht you have filename extensions hidden. In File Explorer, click View, then in the Show/Hide group, ensure that File name extensions is checked.
3. Open the server.properties file with a plain text editor like NotePad or TextEdit and ensure you do so with administrator privileges in order to edit/save the file.
   • Windows: In the Start menu, right-click Notepad and select Run as Administrator. When Notepad opens, use the File > Open menus from that instance of Notepad to open and edit the server.properties file.
   • macOS: You can use a third party text editor of your choice such as Sublime Text to edit a locked file.
4. Find the line admin.password= and change the value to something new, like admin.password=myNewPa$$w0rd.
5. Save the file.
6. Restart the PaperCut service.
   • For a Windows server, click Start, type services.msc, press Enter, right-click PaperCut Application Server service, and select Restart.
   • For more detailed instructions, or steps for Linux or macOS servers, see the Stop and start the Application Server.
7. Wait a couple minutes for the PaperCut server to start up, and then attempt to log in again with the new Admin password.

Have a look at this video if you’d like to see someone try these steps…

Method 2: Updating the password in the PaperCut MF Web admin interface

1. Log in to the PaperCut MF Web admin interface with the Internal Admin credentials.
2. Navigate to Options > Advanced > Reset admin password.
   Note: Only the official internal admin can access this page. Users with admin rights do not have access to the reset admin password setting.  If you can’t see the Reset admin password option, you might not be logged in using internal admin credentials.
3. Click Change internal Admin Password. This message is displayed: 
    “For your security, click OK to log in again and change this setting.”
4. Click OK. You’ll be redirected to the login page to authenticate again with the internal admin credentials.
   Note: This is an additional layer of security to ensure your account’s secure before making this critical change.
5. Enter the internal admin credentials. The page to enter the new password is displayed.
6. Change the password. The updated password will be written to the security.properties file and encrypted.

Using SSO and having problems?

If you’re using PaperCut’s SSO functionality you may want to login manually rather than use SSO. To do this, simply change the url from http://servername:9191/admin to http://servername:9191/admin/nosso

PaperCut MF/NG - change the ‘admin’ account name

PaperCut has a built in administrator account (called “admin”) that is available even if a connection to the domain / directory cannot be established. The default username for this account is admin. This account is not related to the domain administrator account.

Steps

1. Log onto the desktop of the server running PaperCut.
2. Navigate to the server.properties file on the server.
   • On Linux: this is found in /Home/PaperCut/server/server.properties
   • On Mac: this is found in /Applications/PaperCut [NG/MF]/server/
   • On Windows: this is found in C:\Program Files\PaperCut <MF/NG>\server\server.properties
3. Open the server.properties file with a plain text editor like NotePad or TextEdit and ensure you do so with administrator privileges in order to edit / save the file.
   • Windows: Find ‘notepad’ in your Start menu, right-click and select ‘Run as Administrator’. When notepad opens, use the ‘File → Open’ menus from that instance of notepad to open and edit server.properties.
   • macOS: You can use a third party text editor of your choice such as Sublime Text to edit a locked file.
4. Find the line admin.username= and change the value to something new, like admin.username=administrator.

NOTE - after doing this you MUST also change the admin password at the same time. The instructions to do that are included above.

Mobility Print (without NG/MF)

Mobility has a built in administrator account (called “admin”). This is the only account you can use to administer your Mobility Print installation, and currently you cannot alter the username. The password is set during the setup wizard when Mobility was first installed. This account is not related to the domain administrator or other OS level account.

To change/reset the password manually:

Windows: Open the following file in a text editor: [app_dir]/data/config/admin.auth and modify the line AdminPassword. If the password has been set by the system it will be prefixed with HASH: - remove this when manually entering a plain text password. Make sure that you keep the quotes around the new password text.

For example, change:

• AdminPassword = “HASH:$2a$19$rM.4Wt7RvBYZUr8Volbdgu3SQCoTqJ.Y7EjPuZGiWjQUfdW125.5O”

To something like this:

• AdminPassword = “mypassword”

This allows you to set a password in cleartext. Save and close the file, then try logging into the Mobility Print interface again. The password in the text file will automatically be re-hashed the next time you log in.

Tip: If you’re running on Windows, and the admin.auth file is locked, you may need to run Notepad with Administrator privileges - Find ‘notepad’ in your Start menu, then right-click and select ‘Run as Administrator’. When notepad opens, use the ‘File → Open’ menus from that instance of notepad to open and edit the file above.

Mobility Print (with NG/MF)

The Mobility Print admin interface will let you log in with any PaperCut NG/MF account that is either:

• The built-in admin account e.g. ‘admin’ in PaperCut NG/MF - reset by following the PaperCut MF/NG instructions above.
• A user account configured in PaperCut NG/MF with the “Access Options Section” admin right configured.

You can manage the usernames that have access, through PaperCut NG/MF. To reset the password for those accounts managed by PaperCut NG/MF:

• For the built in ‘admin’ account, follow the PaperCut NG/MF instructions above.
• For internal users in PaperCut NG/MF, follow the Resetting Internal User Password instructions
• For regular domain / user directory accounts in PaperCut NG/MF, you’ll need to reset the password in your user directory system - for example Active Directory or LDAP manager.