For the iSeries and even going back to the System/38 the letter "Q" has always held a special meaning.  This tip will detail a little known feature in OS/400 that shows the Power of the "Q" .   No I'm not referring to that odd fellow from Star Trek named "Q".

Most of us know (or should know) that for a password to be valid on the iSeries it must begin with an alpha character.  Here is the help text for the password field right off of my system.

"Passwords can be up to 10 characters and must begin with an alphabetic character (A through Z)."

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE STORY?

I will show you here how simple it is to have a password start with a numeric digit, using the power of the "Q".

The next time your password expires and you are prompted to change it try this.   Enter your new password starting with the letter "Q" and then follow it with a number.   The next time you sign on drop the "Q" and enter your password just starting with that number you used in the 2nd position when you created your new password.

Here are some examples:

 
Entered on change  --  Used at sign on

  Q12345                 12345
  Q5ABC                  5ABC
  QABC3                  QABC3

This tip (trick) does not bypass the normal rules established for passwords on your iSeries by the system values QPWD... .  It works on all versions of OS/400 and even goes back to System/38 days.  However I have not tested it with the new extended length (128 characters) password support in the latest releases.

I should also add that you should not use easily guessed number with this technique.   Numbers like your phone number, employee number, date of birth, etc.  should be avoided.   This is standard for any passwords.

While I'm on the subject did you know that special charicters are valid in your passwords?   The "@", "#", and "$" symbols are all usable in passwords.

So what are you waiting for?  Get creative and make your next password some thing like 6A#V@4MG$9.