Authentication component failure

Might there be a common answer as to why Authentication fails with:

object(Authentication\Authenticator\Result) {
[protected] _status => 'FAILURE_IDENTITY_NOT_FOUND' 
[protected] _data => null 
[protected] _errors =>
 [ 'Password' => [] ]
 }

I followed everything in the Quick Start to the letter. I’ve gone back and checked several times. I allowed my Users login, add, and edit actions to skip authentication so I could edit my test user. I see the users in the database and see when they are changed. I verified the passwords are being hashed.

But Authentication is a black box. The login action I copied from quick start has no seams I can pry apart to try to figure out how, when, or why my login credentials are failing (or don’t know if they are even being considered).

I also made the password super simple to avoid typos. Yet, here I am… stuck and I see no way to debug this.

It may be relevant to note I’m on 3.9 and installed Auth ^1.0

I’m considering trying to see if Auth 2.0 can work with CakePHP 3.9… but I’m afraid it will just create a huge mess in my code otoh.

If anyone has done this, let me know. Otherwise, pointers on debugging Auth 1.0 are requested.