Set the master password - References - SIMATIC AX - AX Hardware Engineering documentation - Hardware Engineering,

With the setup-secure-communication command, the PLC master password can be set. In the example below the password VeryGoodPassword123++ is used. If the command runs successfully, it generates the security configuration file <PLC Name>.SecurityConfiguration.json in the hwc.gen folder. A master password and a security configuration file are mandatory for the next steps.

Example for the given input:

apax hwc setup-secure-communication --name "PLC_1" --input "Sample.hwl.json" --password "VeryGoodPassword123++"

For details, refer to PLC Configuration Data Protection.