"cannot find Bitcoin Core cookie file at XXXXXXXXX"
The cookie file is only available if Bitcoin Core already started. Are you sure the Bitcoin Core daemon already started?
You can also check directly the XXXXXXXXX/.cookie file path to see whether the cookie truly exists or not.
Thanks vv181 - i cannot locate the cookie file but i did enable the user/ pass function on the server window and that synced the wallet.
I don't know how that makes sense.
Thank you. Hopefully this helps someone out there.