not complaining I suppose if you are a masochist, yes :-) The original poster seems to have missed the required $ SET NOON That should be the first thing you type, without that the first error bombs you out and you get to boot all over again ... It looks like he just didn't know that at the Username: prompt, if you have managed to boot with SYSUAFALT (and the startup files don't plug this hole! ... which is the reason for the long-winded crack anyway) then as long as it's the console and as long as you enter SYSTEM you just need to hit RETURN (well anything really) for both the password prompts and you are in. Copious details at: http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wizard/openvms_faq.html and plenty of docs at http://www.openvms.compaq.com:8000/ (OpenVMS User's manual is probably a good one to start with). Be nice to see that list of docs ... Antonio