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.