diff --git a/vertica_python/__init__.py b/vertica_python/__init__.py
index 279af46b..25ed94b4 100644
--- a/vertica_python/__init__.py
+++ b/vertica_python/__init__.py
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@
            'OperationalError', 'ProgrammingError']
 
 # The version number of this library.
+
 version_info = (1, 4, 0)
+
 __version__ = '.'.join(map(str, version_info))
 
 # The protocol version (3.16) implemented in this library.
diff --git a/vertica_python/vertica/messages/frontend_messages/password.py b/vertica_python/vertica/messages/frontend_messages/password.py
index f48d2684..80c437c8 100644
--- a/vertica_python/vertica/messages/frontend_messages/password.py
+++ b/vertica_python/vertica/messages/frontend_messages/password.py
@@ -42,8 +42,39 @@
 from ..backend_messages.authentication import Authentication
 from ....compat import as_bytes
 
-from . import crypt_windows as crypt
-
+try:
+    if os.name == 'nt':
+        # Windows-specific crypt module workaround
+        # Try using passlib or cryptography in place of 'crypt' on Windows
+        try:
+            from passlib.hash import sha256_crypt as crypt  # Passlib as fallback
+        except ImportError:
+            try:
+                from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import hashes  # Cryptography fallback
+                crypt = hashes  # Note: hashes doesn't replace 'crypt', review usage
+            except ImportError:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "Neither 'passlib' nor 'cryptography' is available on Windows, "
+                    "and the 'crypt' module is missing. "
+                    "Please install one of these libraries or adapt the code to use a different hashing mechanism."
+                )
+    else:
+        # Try importing cryptography as an alternative for non-Windows platforms
+        try:
+            from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import hashes
+            crypt = hashes  # Note: hashes doesn't replace 'crypt', review usage
+        except ImportError:
+            # If cryptography isn't available, fallback to passlib
+            try:
+                from passlib.hash import sha256_crypt as crypt
+            except ImportError:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "Neither 'cryptography' nor 'passlib' is available, "
+                    "and the 'crypt' module is missing. "
+                    "Please install one of these libraries or adapt the code to use a different hashing mechanism."
+                )
+except ValueError as e:
+    raise ValueError(f"Error importing crypt module: {e}") from e
 
 class Password(BulkFrontendMessage):
     message_id = b'p'