# FAILED =\> the username/password specified for this server was incorrect

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/failed-the-username-password-specified-for-this-server-was-incorrect/22545>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Tags:** windows\
**Created:** [September 14, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/failed-the-username-password-specified-for-this-server-was-incorrect/22545 "2016-09-14T13:56:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cory\_Coager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@Cory\_Coager](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Cory_Coager)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/failed-the-username-password-specified-for-this-server-was-incorrect/22545/1 "2016-09-14T13:56:33Z")

</div>

The majority of Windows hosts are working correctly. However, I have a couple that are giving me an error “FAILED =\> the username/password specified for this server was incorrect”. The account I’m using to connect is part of the local administrators group. I have run the pre-script on these hosts and the WinRM settings appear to be correct. I checked DNS, there is only one A and PTR record and both are correct.

If I try connecting with PowerShell I see this error:

`  
new-pssession : [] Connecting to remote server failed with the following error  
message : WinRM cannot process the request. The following error with errorcode 0x80090322 occurred while using Kerberos  
authentication: An unknown security error occurred.  
Possible causes are:  
-The user name or password specified are invalid.  
-Kerberos is used when no authentication method and no user name are specified.  
-Kerberos accepts domain user names, but not local user names.  
-The Service Principal Name (SPN) for the remote computer name and port does not exist.  
-The client and remote computers are in different domains and there is no trust between the two domains.  
After checking for the above issues, try the following:  
-Check the Event Viewer for events related to authentication.  
-Change the authentication method; add the destination computer to the WinRM TrustedHosts configuration setting or use HTTPS  
transport.  
Note that computers in the TrustedHosts list might not be authenticated.  
-For more information about WinRM configuration, run the following command: winrm help config. For more information, see the  
about\_Remote\_Troubleshooting Help topic.  
At line:1 char:1

- new-pssession -computername -sessionoption (new-pssession …
- 

```auto

```

- CategoryInfo : OpenError: (System.Manageme…RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotingTransport  
Exception
- FullyQualifiedErrorId : -2144108387,PSSessionOpenFailed  
`

Investigating SPN, I see extra entries for http, probably from IIS needing kerberos? Doing some searching online I see people added extra SPN entries for port 5985 and 5986. Then, when connecting using PowerShell used the -IncludePortInSPN PSSessionOption. This allowed me to connect using PowerShell. However, I’m still not able to connect from Ansible. What would be the equivalent fix for Ansible?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cory\_Coager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@Cory\_Coager](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Cory_Coager)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/failed-the-username-password-specified-for-this-server-was-incorrect/22545/2 "2016-09-29T19:42:24Z")

</div>

I was able to resolve the issue:  
[kerberos: the specified credentials were rejected by the server, ssl: 401 Unauthorized. #17758](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/17758)

Had to make a change to pywinrm code. You also need to add the following option in your vault or via command line:

`

```auto
ansible_winrm_service: HOST

```

`