Re: System Password - How to get it.

[Douglas Handy <dhandy1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pat,

>The password could be seen "only" on the printout....
>This was NOT the license key as I recall...(but maybe it was)

It is separate from the software license key 

If the system is prompting for a system password, it needs a new one and even
having a printout of the old one won't work.  Since V2R3, a system password can
expire just by leaving the machine powered off for "too long" -- an ambigious
term but often guestimated at around the 30-day timeframe.  Hence the
recommendation to use the power scheduler to IPL once a week and shut itself
back down.

The theory seems to be a machine left powered off for "too long" is potentially
indicative of being resold to another party, and expiring the old system
password is one means for IBM to get a chance to validate the user has a valid
OS license.  As stated in another thread, this data seems to be stored in the
front panel, not the DASD, so even a scratch reload does not restore you to the
previous state.

As I understand it...

Doug