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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2026.1

# Password administration

A P4 Server user with the `super` access level can manually set a user’s password:

    p4 passwd username

When prompted, enter a new password for the user.

To learn more about the `super` access level, see Permission levels and access rights in P4 CLI Reference.

## Password reset requirement

To force a user with an existing password to reset their own password the next time they use P4 Server:

    p4 admin resetpassword -u username

This command forces specified users with existing passwords to change their passwords before they can run another command. This command works:

- For users whose `authMethod` is set to `perforce`

- In an environment in which both P4 Server-based and LDAP-based authentication are enabled

To force all users with passwords to reset their password:

    p4 admin resetpassword -a

This applies, as well, to the superuser that invokes this command.

To require users provided with an initial password set by a super user to have to reset it before issuing their first command:

    p4 configure set dm.user.resetpassword=1

Setting this configurable is a best practice if you create new users with a default password.

## Password change requirement

To require users to change their passwords after a specified interval, use the p4 group command to assign your users to at least one group and set the `PasswordTimeout:` value for that group.

If a given user is a member of any group for which a `PasswordTimeout` value has been set, the default value of `unset` no longer applies to that user. Instead, that user is subject to the largest `PasswordTimeout` value that has been set across all that user's groups. The largest value that can be set is `unlimited`.

## Recovering from a super user lockout

If all super users are locked out, for example, after setting `dm.user.setinitialpasswd=0` with no super able to set passwords, or after inheriting a database with no known super user, use the `p4d --reset-password` command to recover access.

Run the following command:

    p4d -r P4ROOT --reset-password username [-m auth-method] [-P password] [-s]

To learn more, see --reset-password user [-m auth-method] [-P password] [-s].

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