Staring at a flickering green screen in a collapsed Boston office building while a Feral Ghoul screeches in the next room is the peak Fallout 4 experience. You've found the terminal. You need the loot inside the floor safe. But then you see it: a massive wall of nonsense text, brackets, and random words that look like a digital fever dream. Figuring out a fallout 4 terminal password isn't just about luck; it's a logic puzzle that Bethesda has been refining since Fallout 3, and honestly, most players still do it the hard way.
Hack it. Or don't. Sometimes it's easier to just find the holotape under a desk, but for those Master-level locks, you’re stuck with the grid.
The hacking mini-game is essentially a glorified version of the old "Mastermind" board game. You get four tries. If you fail the fourth, the terminal locks you out for a bit—unless you have certain perks—and you're forced to wait. It’s frustrating. It's tedious. Yet, once you understand the "likeness" mechanic, the whole thing breaks wide open.
How the Fallout 4 Terminal Password System Actually Works
When you click a word, the screen tells you the "Likeness." This is the only number that matters. If you click "STATION" and the game says Likeness=2, it means exactly two letters in that word are in the correct position compared to the actual password.
Most people guess randomly. Don't do that.
If "STATION" gives you a Likeness of 2, and you then click "STINGED," you’re looking to see if the S and T are in the same spot. If the actual password was "STARTED," your likeness would be 3 (S-T-A). The trick is mental elimination. It’s a process of narrowing down the pool of candidates until only one word fits the mathematical constraints of the previous guesses. If you're looking at a Master terminal, the words are long. Ten letters or more. This actually makes it easier because the probability of random letter overlap is lower, making the Likeness score more meaningful.
The Secret Bracket Trick Everyone Forgets
You see those strings of characters like < >, [ ], { }, and ( )? Those are your best friends. If you find a pair of matching brackets on the same line—even if there’s a bunch of junk like % $ & between them—highlighting the first bracket will select the whole set.
Clicking these does two things:
- It removes "dud" words that aren't the password.
- It occasionally resets your allowance of four guesses.
Seriously, stop guessing after three attempts. If you have one guess left, start scouring the screen for every single set of brackets. If you find a [], click it. If you see a ( . . . ), click it. Often, you can clear out almost every fake word on the screen, leaving only the correct fallout 4 terminal password staring you in the face. It’s basically a cheat code built into the lore of the game.
Perks That Change the Rules
If you’re tired of the mini-game entirely, you need to invest in the Intelligence tree. Specifically, the Hacker perk.
- Rank 1: Access Advanced terminals.
- Rank 2: Access Expert terminals.
- Rank 3: Access Master terminals.
- Rank 4: You never get locked out.
That fourth rank is a bit of a trap, though. By the time you reach the level requirement for Rank 4, you’ve probably hacked three hundred terminals and could do it in your sleep. Or, more likely, you've recruited Nick Valentine. Nick is the shortcut. If you don't want to deal with the math, just point Nick at the screen and let the synth do the heavy lifting. He can fail, sure, but he usually gets it within a few seconds.
Then there is the Science Bobblehead. Located in the Malden Middle School (Vault 75), this permanent buff gives you an extra guess. Five guesses instead of four is a massive safety net. It turns the game from "risky" to "almost impossible to fail."
Common Mistakes and Misconceptions
One of the biggest lies players tell themselves is that the password is "usually a thematic word." While it’s true that a terminal in a chemistry lab might have "SULPHUR" as a password, the game generates the list from a pool based on difficulty level. There isn't a secret lore hint for every single terminal.
Another mistake? Clicking too fast.
The terminal text scrolls. It takes a second for the Likeness score to pop up in the bottom right corner. If you’re clicking words like a maniac, you’ll miss the feedback and burn through your attempts. Slow down. It's a wasteland; you aren't going anywhere.
The Science of "Likeness"
Let's look at a real example.
- You guess POWER. Likeness = 0.
- This is the best-case scenario. It means the letters P, O, W, E, and R are not in those positions in the correct password.
- You can immediately ignore TOWER, POKER, and LOWER.
- You see TREES. Since 'E' is in the fourth position in both POWER and TREES, and POWER had a likeness of 0, TREES cannot be the password.
This logic is how you win every time. It’s binary. It’s clean.
Expert Strategies for Master Terminals
Master-level terminals are intimidating because the screen is packed. But the length of the words—usually 12 to 15 characters—is your advantage.
- Pick the first word. Doesn't matter which.
- Evaluate the Likeness. 3. Find the Brackets. Don't even look for a second word yet. Find every
{},[],(), and<>on the screen. - Watch the Duds. As you click brackets, words will disappear. Often, the list of 15 words shrinks to three or four.
- Compare. If you have two words left, say "CONSTRUCTION" and "DISTRIBUTION," and your first guess "CONTRACTUAL" gave you a high likeness, it's pretty obvious which one to pick.
The game tries to trick you with suffixes. You'll see "ING" or "TION" at the end of five different words. If your Likeness score is 3, and the word ends in "TION," there’s a massive chance that T-I-O-N isn't part of the match, or at least not all of it. If "STATION" gave you Likeness 4, and "NATION" is an option, you have to decide if those four letters are the "TION" part.
Why Hacking Still Matters in 2026
Even years after release, Fallout 4 keeps a steady player base because the world-building is tucked away in these terminals. You aren't just looking for a fallout 4 terminal password to open a door; you're looking for the diary entries of a pre-war businessman or the logs of a frantic scientist.
The gameplay loop of exploration-combat-looting is anchored by these moments of quiet puzzle-solving. If you skip hacking by never leveling Intelligence, you lose about 30% of the game’s story. You miss the context of why the building you’re in is filled with mannequins or why the turrets are programmed to shoot everything except cats.
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Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
To master hacking once and for all, stop guessing. Follow this specific workflow:
- Perk Check: Ensure you have at least Rank 1 of Hacker. Without it, you can't even touch Advanced terminals, which hold the decent loot.
- The 3-1 Rule: Always make three guesses based on logic. If you haven't solved it by guess three, stop. Do not make the fourth guess.
- Bracket Sweep: Scan every line for the bracket pairs mentioned earlier. Only after you've exhausted every
[],(),<>, and{}should you use your final guess. - Exit and Reset: If you are still stumped and on your last guess, simply exit the terminal. When you log back in, the attempts reset, though the password will change. This is the "coward's way out," but it beats a lockout.
- Companion Synergy: Keep Nick Valentine at your settlement or as your active follower if you plan on doing a "technical" run of a vault. He can bypass the frustration when you're just not in the mood for a logic puzzle.
By treating the terminal as a math problem rather than a guessing game, the "Likeness" mechanic becomes a tool rather than a mystery. You'll spend less time staring at green text and more time actually playing the game.