Thank you so very much! Firstly, for dispelling the default AWS EC2 default password format of SPLUNK-$instanceID$. Net, you are absolutely right that the "server error" was not due to an incorrect password login. Just for background info for other community explorers: This EC2 was deployed in us-east-1 with c5.xlarge. I took the path of the workarounds given by the other Splunk community contributor(s) but initially it did not work. Due time constraints (too late on Saturday night), I gave up for the night. The next day (Sunday), I tried the workarounds again, BAM! Works! Net-net, I reckoned there was a long delay between the EC2 instance is READY "3/3 checks passed" and when it was actually SplunkD ready. Thus, if other community readers encounter the same problem, please let your (Splunk v10) EC2 instance sit and simmer for a while before pulling your hair out on why the default password does NOT work. Again, cheers always and continue happy splunk'ing! ... View more