restricting with .htaccess file problems

[turbo-newbie]

I have .htaccess with the following text inside

authtype Basic
authname someusername
authuserfile /my/full/and/correct/path/to/the/pass/file
require valid-user




in the pass file i have

someusername:2AuTzNx.7vKlE



and it does not work, when i go to the dir with these files, it pops up a dialog box
but when i enter "someusername" and the pass, it does not authorise me


p.s. does the pass in the pass file have to be encrypted? What if it's plain text?

p.p.s
/my/full/and/correct/path/to/the/pass/file
and the .httaccess file infact are the same dir

[goldbug]

Did you use htpasswd to create the password file? If not, try it.

[turbo-newbie]

i do not have telnet access
so i guess i can't use htpasswd for creating the file

isn't there easier way to protect a dir? it's not for something very important.....