Avamar: Some special characters cannot be used for the MCUser password

Summary: Dell Avamar only permits A‑Z, a‑z, 0‑9, underscore (_), hyphen (-), and period (.) in the MCUser password.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
Check out other resources

Symptoms

Unable to create complex passwords.

When running the change-passwords script, the following message appears when other characters are used:

ERROR: Avamar Server password may contain only these characters:A-Z, a-z, 0-9, _, -, .

Cause

Avamar only allows certain characters in the password. This causes password changes to fail if other special characters are used. 

Resolution

Avamar allows only the following characters to be used in passwords:
  • A‑Z
  • a‑z
  • 0‑9
  • Underscore (_)
  • Hyphen (-)
  • Period (.)

Affected Products

Avamar, Avamar Server
Article Properties
Article Number: 000039079
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2026
Version:  7
Find answers to your questions from other Dell users
Support Services
Check if your device is covered by Support Services.