product icon

Why can't I log in to my computer? (error 5 / 1326 / 1327 / Login failed.)

    Many users experience problems logging in to host computers.

    An error 1326 or error 5 indicates that you are incorrectly entering your Windows/Mac user name or your Windows/Mac password. Error 1327 usually means you entered a blank password (that is, you did not enter any password at all).

    You may also see:

    Login failed. Enter the [Windows/Mac] user name and password you see when physically sitting at the remote computer.

    If you are confident that you are entering a correct Windows/Mac password, then you may be entering an incorrect Windows/Mac user name.
    Tip: One common reason for failed login is that users enter their LogMeIn ID and password, not their computer user name and password. See also How do I Authenticate my Session?.

    Another common reason is when your host is on a network domain in which case you have to enter the domain name as well. For example, if your host is on a domain, called besthardwarestore, and your user name on the host is jsmith, then your full user name is besthardwarestore/jsmith.

    To find out whether you are on a domain,
    • On Windows, open a Command Prompt and type whoami
    • On a Mac, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups then select your user and click Login Options. You find the domain name in the Network Account Server field.

    How to Retrieve Your User Name on a Windows PC

    1. While sitting at the computer that you want to be able to access, press and hold the Windows key and press the letter R on your keyboard. The Run dialog box is displayed.
    2. In the box, type cmd and press Enter. The command prompt window will appear.
    3. Type whoami and press Enter.
      Your current user name will be displayed.
    What to do next:
    Important: When you are on a computer domain, the domain name is also part of your user name. In the example above, the user name is 3amlabs/kirtes, where 3amlabs is the computer domain of the user.

    How to Retrieve Your User Name on a Mac

    1. Physically go to the computer that you want to be able to access, or ask someone who is present at that computer to perform the following steps.
      Tip: In some cases, you may need to ask for help from the person who manages the host software at your organization.
    2. Click the Apple menu and go to System Preferences > Users and Groups.
    3. Any user in the Administrators group can be used to log in to the computer.
    Article last updated: 27 September, 2022