# Unable to log into Control Panel

**URL:** <https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654>\
**Category:** Maintenance\
**Created:** [July 20, 2026, 5:53pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654 "2026-07-20T17:53:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/kuabi)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 5:53pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/1 "2026-07-20T17:53:47Z")

</div>

For the last few days, I’ve had issues with logging into the Control Panel.  
Every time I try, I get the following error:  
‘ascii’ codec can’t decode byte 0xa3 in position 27: ordinal not in range(128).  
The only thing I’ve changed is my Router but it was working after the change.  
Ideas on fixing this will be appreciated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/user_avatar/discourse.mailinabox.email/kiekerjan/32/2339_2.png) [@KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/KiekerJan)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/2 "2026-07-20T20:24:15Z")

</div>

See if `sudo journalctl -u mailinabox` gives you a clue.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/kuabi)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 8:50am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/3 "2026-07-21T08:50:47Z")

</div>

Thanks for replying.  
WARNING in daemon: Mail-in-a-Box Management Daemon: Failed login attempt from ip 192.168.1.1 - timestamp 1784622268.9244769  
Jul 21 09:24:28 [box.leshosting.uk](http://box.leshosting.uk) gunicorn[1776]: Mail-in-a-Box Management Daemon: Failed login attempt from ip 192.168.1.1 - timestamp 1784622268.9244769  
lines 315-352/352 (END)

Not sure why it says logging in from ip 192.168.1.1 when i’m trying from 192.168.1.20  
Possibly a setting in the router that i’ve missed?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/user_avatar/discourse.mailinabox.email/kiekerjan/32/2339_2.png) [@KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/KiekerJan)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 9:35am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/4 "2026-07-21T09:35:06Z")

</div>

With this

> [@kuabi](#):
>
> logging into the Control Panel.

you mean the admin login at box./admin, right? How is the error displayed? Same as an incorrect login?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/kuabi)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/5 "2026-07-21T09:56:31Z")

</div>

Correct/box/admin  
The error box for incorrect login shows “Login Failed” “Incorrect email address or password.”  
journal - Fatal: reverse password verification check failed: Password mismatch.  
The error box for correct login shows “Login Failed” “‘ascii’ codec can’t decode byte 0xa3 in position 27: ordinal not in range(128)”  
journal “WARNING in daemon: Mail-in-a-Box Management Daemon: Failed login attempt from ip 192.168.1.1”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/user_avatar/discourse.mailinabox.email/kiekerjan/32/2339_2.png) [@KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/KiekerJan)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 10:40am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/6 "2026-07-21T10:40:17Z")

</div>

Do you have any funny characters (like £) in your password? I think it might fail on decoding that

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/kuabi)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/7 "2026-07-21T11:49:25Z")

</div>

You just hit the nail on the head. My passwords usually contain special characters but on this occasion, it did include the £.  
Many thanks for solving this for me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/user_avatar/discourse.mailinabox.email/kiekerjan/32/2339_2.png) [@KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/KiekerJan)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/8 "2026-07-21T12:48:23Z")

</div>

I think this might be identified as a bug. How did you set the password?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/kuabi)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/9 "2026-07-21T12:50:16Z")

</div>

As I couldn’t get into the cp I set it via roundcube

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/user_avatar/discourse.mailinabox.email/kiekerjan/32/2339_2.png) [@KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/KiekerJan)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/10 "2026-07-21T18:57:07Z")

</div>

So the password you couldn’t login with was set using Roundcube?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@kuabi](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/kuabi)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/11 "2026-07-21T19:39:38Z")

</div>

I’m sure it was but what’s strange is that I had used it before set in the control panel, so it could be a roundcube issue. I also set the new password with about 10 special characters that worked. The new one hasn’t got the £ in it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/user_avatar/discourse.mailinabox.email/kiekerjan/32/2339_2.png) [@KiekerJan](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/KiekerJan)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 8:07am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/12 "2026-07-22T08:07:13Z")

</div>

Created a [github issue](https://github.com/mail-in-a-box/mailinabox/issues/2595)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hermany5](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@hermany5](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/hermany5)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2026, 9:25pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/13 "2026-08-12T21:25:27Z")

</div>

That error points more toward an encoding/locale issue than the router itself. The 0xa3 byte is commonly associated with an extended character such as £, which Python’s ASCII decoder cannot handle. first check the Mail-in-a-Box logs while attempting the login: sudo journalctl -u mailinabox --since “10 minutes ago” Also check the nginx error log. If the traceback identifies a config file or value containing a non-ASCII character, that’s likely the culprit. Since the router change happened around the same time, also try accessing the panel from another device/network to rule out a browser or cached-session issue.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4d0933d13c456b7e57f296aa6cc344525b6f0c70.png) [@system](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/unable-to-log-into-control-panel/16654/14 "2026-09-21T21:26:01Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 40 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.