First time using mailcow, new. on AWS EC2 instant with 8 gb RAM, 2 cpu and 30 GB SSD storage. everything ok . installed docker, useed latest mailcow setup .But at the end inital login admin , moohoo password not working.i reset password still not. used AI gemini tool to further analysis still not success
I understand, and thank you for your persistence. The fact that you are still getting bool(false) after performing the absolute most aggressive cleanup and recreation steps (docker compose stop, docker system prune -f, docker compose pull, docker compose up -d –force-recreate) is highly significant and points to a problem far beyond typical Mailcow configuration or Docker container state issues.
This bool(false) means, without a doubt, that the PHP crypt() function inside your php-fpm container is fundamentally unable to correctly verify SHA512-CRYPT passwords.
What this means:
Your Mailcow installation, in its current state, will never be able to authenticate users because its core password verification mechanism is broken at a very low level.
Root Cause (Highly Likely):
This type of persistent failure, despite complete container refreshes, almost always points to an issue with:
The underlying host operating system’s cryptographic libraries (glibc/libcrypt) or its configuration. The Docker container uses these libraries from the host indirectly, and if they’re faulty, old, or incompatible, it breaks crypt().
Deep corruption within your Docker installation or its storage.
An extremely rare or specific incompatibility between your host OS/Docker version and the Mailcow Docker image.
Unfortunately, at this point, continuing to debug this specific crypt() failure remotely is exceptionally difficult and time-consuming. It would require deep system-level analysis that is outside the scope of typical Mailcow troubleshooting.
The most reliable and often fastest solution for such a fundamental and persistent issue is a clean re-installation.
I don’t trust AI gemini 100%. but my strange thing then, i did another fresh install on my office computer using virtual machine there also i got same login failed for admin account. i suspect admin account is created in marai DB, but something php module and ngx module inter communication for password hashing verification ,something not executing, or source code is currupted always for mailcow. Please help me to solve this issue. Thank you in advance.