diff --git a/script/couch_test_runner.js b/script/couch_test_runner.js
index c04e6b1..7f435bf 100644
--- a/script/couch_test_runner.js
+++ b/script/couch_test_runner.js
@@ -460,9 +460,7 @@
 CouchDB.prepareUserDoc = function(user_doc, new_password) {
   user_doc._id = user_doc._id || CouchDB.user_prefix + user_doc.name;
   if (new_password) {
-    // handle the password crypto
-    user_doc.salt = CouchDB.newUuids(1)[0];
-    user_doc.password_sha = hex_sha1(new_password + user_doc.salt);
+    user_doc.password = new_password;
   }
   user_doc.type = "user";
   if (!user_doc.roles) {
diff --git a/script/test/auth_cache.js b/script/test/auth_cache.js
index 57e6a8d..2229c20 100644
--- a/script/test/auth_cache.js
+++ b/script/test/auth_cache.js
@@ -184,11 +184,7 @@
     hits_before = hits_after;
     misses_before = misses_after;
 
-    var new_salt = CouchDB.newUuids(1)[0];
-    var new_passwd = hex_sha1("foobar" + new_salt);
-    fdmanana.salt = new_salt;
-    fdmanana.password_sha = new_passwd;
-
+    fdmanana.password = "foobar";
     T(authDb.save(fdmanana).ok);
 
     // cache was refreshed
@@ -206,11 +202,7 @@
     misses_before = misses_after;
 
     // and yet another update
-    new_salt = CouchDB.newUuids(1)[0];
-    new_passwd = hex_sha1("javascript" + new_salt);
-    fdmanana.salt = new_salt;
-    fdmanana.password_sha = new_passwd;
-
+    fdmanana.password = "javascript";
     T(authDb.save(fdmanana).ok);
 
     // cache was refreshed
diff --git a/script/test/cookie_auth.js b/script/test/cookie_auth.js
index 40b633b..9b4bd64 100644
--- a/script/test/cookie_auth.js
+++ b/script/test/cookie_auth.js
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@
 
       // we can't create docs with malformed ids
       var badIdDoc = CouchDB.prepareUserDoc({
-        name: "foo"
+        name: "w00x"
       }, "bar");
 
       badIdDoc._id = "org.apache.couchdb:w00x";
@@ -153,8 +153,8 @@
         usersDb.deleteDoc(jchrisUserDoc);
         T(false && "Can't delete other users docs. Should have thrown an error.");
       } catch (e) {
-        TEquals("forbidden", e.error);
-        TEquals(403, usersDb.last_req.status);
+        TEquals("not_found", e.error);
+        TEquals(404, usersDb.last_req.status);
       }
 
       // TODO should login() throw an exception here?
@@ -197,8 +197,8 @@
         usersDb.save(jasonUserDoc);
         T(false && "Can't update someone else's user doc. Should have thrown an error.");
       } catch (e) {
-        T(e.error == "forbidden");
-        T(usersDb.last_req.status == 403);
+        T(e.error == "not_found");
+        T(usersDb.last_req.status == 404);
       }
 
       // test that you can't edit roles unless you are admin
@@ -272,7 +272,6 @@
 
   var usersDb = new CouchDB("test_suite_users", {"X-Couch-Full-Commit":"false"});
   usersDb.deleteDb();
-  usersDb.createDb();
 
   run_on_modified_server(
     [