Logging In to Your System

After you turn the power on to your display, a login prompt appears on your screen. See the following illustration for an example.

Note: It may take a few minutes for your login prompt to appear. Do not press any keys while you are waiting, as this may cause unexpected results.

If the login prompt does not display, see your system administrator or refer to the "Problem Determination" section in the AIX Version 4.3 Problem Solving Guide and Reference.

Note: If you receive an error message on your display screen, refer to Responding to Error Messages .

To use the system, you must identify yourself to the system as an authorized user by logging in with your login name. A login name is actually a name identifying you to the system. Your login name, as well as the system groups to which your system administrator has assigned you, controls your access to system functions.

Your system may be set up so that you can only log in during certain hours of the day and on certain days of the week. If you attempt to log in at a time other than the time allowed, your access is denied. Your system administrator can verify what your login times are.

To log in:

1. At the login: prompt, type your login name, then press Enter.

   login: LoginName

   For example, if your login name is denise:

   login: denise

2. If the password: prompt appears, type your password, then press Enter. (The screen does not display your password as you type it.)

   password: YourPassword 

   If the password prompt does not appear, you have no password defined and you can begin working on the operating system.

If you don't know your login name or the password assigned to you, see your system administrator.

If the system displays:

login incorrect

Log in again, and enter the correct login name and password. If you still have a problem logging in, see your system administrator.

If the system displays:

YOU LOGGED IN USING ALL UPPERCASE CHARACTERS.
         IF YOUR WORKSTATION ALSO SUPPORTS LOWERCASE
         CHARACTERS, LOG OFF, THEN LOG IN AGAIN USING
         LOWERCASE CHARACTERS.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 again, making sure the Caps Lock key is off.

After you have logged in and depending on how your system is set up, your system will start up in a graphical interface (AIX Common Desktop Environment or AIXwindows), or in a command line interface (the shell).

Related Information

The id command describes how to determine your current login name.

The logout command describes logging off of the operating system.

The passwd command describes how to establish or change your password.

The rlogin command describes how to perform a remote login.

The su command describes how you can log into the system as another user (including root user).

The telnet command describes how to log into a remote system.

The who command describes how to identify which users are currently logged into a system.

The whoami command describes how to determine your login name.