Error "Password Mismatch" whilst Configuring Apache 2 on XP pro

Hello guru's, i've got a XP problem, configured my linux system right
the other day but it seems my password file has a problem. I'm quite
sure i'm finding the .htpasswd file, as i'm getting the user correct,
however the "Password Mismatch" in the error log seems to mean the
password encoding may not be working right (could be wong)

[Sun May 07 11:43:46 2006] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]
user rupert: authentication failure for "/secure/hello.html": Password
Mismatch

my httpd.conf file is;
#--------------------------------------

DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs"

AccessFileName ".htaccess"

<Directory "/">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>

<Directory "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs">
Options Order Allow,Deny
Allow from All
AllowOverride All
</Directory>
#---------------------------------------------

and the sub directory i'm trying to secure is;
C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/secure/

and contains;
hello.html .htaccess .htpasswd

the .htaccess file contains;
AuthUserFile "htdocs/secure/.htpasswd"
AuthName "Ruperts place"
AuthType Basic
<Limit GET POST>
require valid-user
</Limit>

and after running "htpasswd -c .htpasswd rupert" whilst within the
directory
I want to protect I do get my .htpasswd file sitting there within my
/secure/ directory
with the contents of;
rupert:rTGbkj98PfvqE

Does it have something to do with MD5 on windows and the Digest option
instead of Basic within the httpd.conf file?