Lesman Tech Tips

One of the strengths of Honeywell’s X-series paperless recorders is password security. You can configure it to keep operators from making configuration changes, and it’s a necessary part of being able to view a recorder’s data using a web browser.

One of the weaknesses of Honeywell’s X-series paperless recorders is password security. And by that, I don’t mean it’s bad. I just mean it can cause problems if a user fails to enter their username and password right, and ends up locked out of the recorder.

So I’m guessing if you searched for the backdoor password, you’re in that situation. You’re locked out of your recorder and can’t figure out how to get back in.

First, I apologize for luring you into reading this. There is NO backdoor password for an X-series recorder.  But don’t give up hope: There is an answer.

(What’s a back door? Watch and learn.)

Hopefully, there’s a user at your location with administrator level access, who can reset a locked-out user. But if that’s not the case, what do you do when everyone is locked out of an X-series recorder?

It’s not too hard, really. You’re only two pieces of information away: The recorder’s internal serial number, and the date the recorder is using.

First, take a look at your recorder. On the paper tag (below left), right above the CE logo mark, there’s a six-digit number starting with an 8. Write that down. 

If you can’t read it there, go on the recorder’s screen (above right) and follow this trail: General status page menu > status > system > general > serial number.

Next, look in the upper-right display of your recorder, in the blue status bar. Write down the date shown there.

That’s the date the recording is using.  Make sure you check this before you move on to the next step. Experience has shown that the recorder’s date is not always the same as today’s date.

Now, with those two pieces of information, call Honeywell’s technical assistance center (TAC) support line at 800-423-9883 and ask them to provide you with a temporary user name and password.

The temporary username and password Honeywell provides you over the phone will only be valid for the day you call and will expire at midnight.  They’ll both be numbers, to avoid any confusion or issues with upper case, lower case, and symbols.

It is important that the temporary user name and password be used right away to access the recorder and re-establish some level of security, and to make sure they don’t expire before you can use them.

Just FYI, the person who provides your username and password is NOT necessarily a recorder tech support person. They have a tool to generate your numbers, but may not be the right person to help you with other troubleshooting issues.

Have password. Now what?

Now that you have a temporary username and password, you have access to the recorder’s Passwords group. The only action allowed is Reset Pwds, which resets ALL password settings to the factory defaults. This means that it resets all the policies and levels, and wipes out all existing usernames and passwords.

None of Users, Add User, Delete User, Unlock User functions work with the temporary username/password. Other menu configuration groups and items are not available when logged in with the temporary user name. 

The only path that works is the Menu > Edit > Passwords > Reset Pwds path. 

Click [Reset Pwds].

The next immediate task at hand is to create a new user name and configure it for Administrator access.  That way, the new admin user can make all subsequent changes to password security. 

The following will need to be re-entered:

1. All policy changes, like the required number or alpha or symbol characters in a valid password
2. Any changes to factory default assignment regarding which security level has access to which permission areas
3. Any and all user names and passwords will need to be re-entered, and each user’s password will need to be entered and confirmed, one by one, as though it’s the first time the user is activated.

Obviously, it can be a lot of work to re-configure password security.  For safety’s sake, you may want to consider having at least two user names with administrator access.

Note that neither user name admin nor Admin is valid; neither will be accepted by the recorder.  

I also recommend that the Perm Area 3 Status be left as Unrestricted (default mode) under Level Permissions so that the internal serial number can be viewed.  Status displays are read-only, and do not compromise any configuration settings.