Posts Tagged ‘reset domain administrator password’

4 Ways to Reset Domain Admin Password on Windows Server 2008

September 9th, 2016 by Admin

How can I change domain password from command line? Have you forgotten domain administrator password? In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to reset domain admin password on Windows Server 2008 domain controller.

Method 1: Reset Domain Admin Password Using Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in

  1. Click the Start button, and then select All Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computer.

    active-directory-users-and-computers

  2. When the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in opens, expand your domain and click Users in the left pane.
  3. In the right pane, right-click the name of the account, and click Reset Password.

    reset-domain-password

  4. Type and then confirm the new password. Click OK.

    enter-new-domain-password

Method 2: Reset Domain Admin Password from Command Line

  1. To get started, you need to open an elevated Command Prompt. Click the Start button, and then select All Programs > Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

    run-cmd-as-admin

  2. At the Command Prompt, you can run the net user user_name new_password /domain command to change your domain user password. For example, if you wan to change the password of the user Tom to P@ssword123, run the below command:
    net user Tom P@ssword123 /domain

    reset-domain-password-from-command

  3. Now you’ve successfully reset your domain administrator password from command line.

Method 3: Reset Domain Admin Password by Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del

  1. When you’re logged into Windows Server, press the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination, you will still see this task menu. Click Change a password.

    ctrl-alt-del-screen

  2. Type your old password followed by a new password as indicated, and then type the new password again to confirm it. Press Enter or click on the blue arrow pointing right.

    change-domain-password

  3. You should then receive a message stating that you have successfully changed your password.

Method 4: Reset Domain Admin Password Using PCUnlocker

  1. Download PCUnlocker Enterprise (distributed as .zip format) and save it to your desktop. When the download is complete, right-click on the .zip file to extract it.
  2. After extracting, burn the PCUnlocker ISO file to your USB flash drive using ISO2Disc – an excellent utility that helps to create bootable CD/USB flash drive from ISO file.

  3. Next insert the USB flash drive into your Windows Server machine. Restart the server and enter into BIOS Setup: set the USB as first boot device. After booting from USB, it’ll take you to the PCUnlocker application.
  4. Switch the recovery mode to Reset Active Directory Password. The program will display your domain accounts stored in the Active Directory database. Choose an user and click Reset Password.

    pcunlocker

  5. Click Yes to confirm and your domain user password will be changed to Password123 immediately.

    reset-forgotten-domain-password

    Reboot the server without USB, you can then log in to Windows Server 2008 domain controller successfully. That’s it!

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Forgot Domain Administrator Password on Windows Server 2008

January 10th, 2013 by Admin

We are taking over a new company and nobody knows the administrator password to log on the Windows Server 2008 domain controller, we try with few users to see if they were administrator in the domain with no luck. no way to contact the person that set it up. Is there a way that we can change or reset the password? Thanks in advance.

I think it is a fairly common occurrence these days that IT Administrators forget the password of a domain controller after they have got back from a vacation or there has just been a situation where the previous system admin has left without leaving the server password.

There are lot of different Windows password recovery utilities that are available on the web. Some open source and some paid ones and it can get a bit confusing when deciding which one to go with.

There is one utility that you can rely on and believe it works on all Windows Server OS, including Windows Server 2012/2008/2003/2000. This is called Reset Windows Password. Once you have downloaded the ISO image, burn it on a CD and then boot the server of it. Resetting forgotten domain administrator password for a domain controller is a 2-step procedure.

How to Reset Forgotten Domain Administrator Password on Windows Server 2008?

First, you will need to download the Reset Windows Password utility on any PC that you can access. This can be your work PC, or a friend or your co-worker’s computer. After the download is complete, unzip the download file and you’ll get the ResetWindowsPwd.iso file.

Burn the ResetWindowsPwd.iso file to a CD using your preferred CD Burning software. If you don’t have one, you can use the freeware such as ImgBurn or ISO2Disc. If your domain controller doesn’t come with a CD/DVD-ROM, you can choose to burn the ISO image to a USB flash drive using ISO2Disc.

Put the CD into the CD drive of your domain controller, then change the boot order in BIOS to set the computer to boot from CD. Once the computer has booted, it will load the OS inside the CD drive and launch the Reset Windows Password utility.

Choose the Reset Active Directory Password option, the program will locate the ntds.dit file which is used to stored domain user login details on your domain controller.

Choose the domain administrator account and then click on Reset Password button, the program will change the forgotten/unknown password to Password123 by default, and also unlock/enable the account in case it is locked out or disabled.

The last step is remove the CD and restart the domain controller, you’ll be able to log in to your Windows Server 2008 using the domain administrator account. This is it!! You have successfully hacked your own server.

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How to Reset Lost Domain Admin Password in Windows Server 2012

November 3rd, 2012 by Admin

In my previous post I’ve shown you how to install Active Directory in Windows Server 2012. During the procedure of promoting your server to a domain controller, you’ll be prompted to set a strong password for the administrator account in case the password is blank. What to do if you forgot the domain administrator password after installation?

As system/network administrator, you are usually confronted with the problem of forgetting domain admin password. Even if you don’t have to reset a password now, you should get acquainted with this issue. In this tutorial we’ll show you the easiest way to reset a lost domain administrator password in Windows Server 2012.

How to Reset Lost Domain Admin Password in Windows Server 2012?

  1. Download and install Password Recovery Bundle on another computer that you can log in.
  2. Prepare a blank CD and insert it into the computer.
  3. Launch Password Recovery Bundle and click on Windows Password button, it will display the ISO burning dialog.
  4. Choose the CD you’ve plugged in and then click on Start Burn button to create a Live CD.
  5. After you have the Live CD, put it into the CD drive of your locked server PC whose password you want to reset.
  6. Turn on the server and have it boot from the Live CD. You may need to go into BIOS and set CD/DVD as the first boot device.
  7. After booting from the Live CD, it will load the Windows PE operating system inside the Live CD and start the Reset Windows Password program.
  8. Choose the Active Directory NTDS.dit database, it will display a list of domain user accounts inside the NTDS.dit database.
  9. Choose the administrator account from the list, then click on Reset Password button, the program will replace the forgotten/unknown administrator password with the new password: Password123.

Reject the Live CD and restart the server. You can then log in to the domain administrator account with the new password. It’s so easy to reset a lost domain admin password in Windows Server 2012!

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Reset Domain Controller Password on Windows Server 2008/2003/2000

July 4th, 2012 by Admin

My company has a remote location with a rogue domain controller in which no one has the password for. This was set up by my predecessor who was fired and never told anyone the password.  I want to migrate this location to our national domain, and it is currently in production at as a file server and print server also. My question is how can I safely reset the password on this server?

There are many password reset tools out there, that will allow you to reset Windows local passwords, but I haven’t come across one before, that will let you reset the password of a domain admin account on a domain controller. In this tutorial I will walk you through how to reset the domain administrator password on Windows Server 2008/2003/2000 domain controller.

Reset Windows Password is the software that can help you instantly regain access to your domain controller by resetting the forgotten domain administrator password. The software comes as an ISO image, which you have to burn to a CD or USB drive. As long as you have physical access to the domain controller, you can easily reset domain controller password on Windows Server 2008/2003/2000.

How to Reset Domain Controller Password:

  1. Download the zip archive of Reset Windows Password utility. Unzip it and burn the ISO image to a blank CD or USB stick.
  2. Insert the CD or USB stick into your locked computer and let your computer boot from it.
  3. After a while the bootdisk will launch the Reset Windows Password utility, which shows all user accounts available for your Windows installation. By default the Reset Local Admin/User Password option will be selected, the program will display a list of Windows local user accounts. The Reset Active Directory Password option is intended for resetting domain administrator password on domain controller. So we choose the Reset Active Directory Password option.
  4. The program will display a list of domain user accounts on your domain controller.
  5. Choose the user account whose password you forgot, then click Reset Password button. The domain user password will be changed to Password123 by default.

The last step is to remove the CD or USB stick, then restart the domain controller. You’ll be able to log into your domain user account with the new password. After logging into domain controller you can set a new password for the administrator account.

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How to Reset Domain Administrator Password on Windows Server 2008/2003/2000

June 12th, 2012 by Admin

An important part of any client/server network architecture is the user accounts that are created in the domain. User accounts are known as domain accounts as they are authenticated by the domain controller and can be logged on using any computer that is a member of the domain. As an administrator of any LAN infrastructure you are required to handle several tasks in a day and manage hundreds of passwords in order to make the network infrastructure run smoothly.

If someone in your organization forgot his domain user password, we can log on the domain controller using administrator account to help him reset the password to a new one. But if we forgot domain administrator password, we’ll lose full control over the domain controller. It might sometimes cause a big inconvenience if we need to access the domain controller urgently.

Here I’ll show you an easy way to reset Windows domain password on Windows Server 2008/2003/2000. Unlock domain controller instantly if you forgot domain administrator password or you are locked out of the computer for various reasons.

How to Reset Windows Domain Administrator Password?

  1. First we need to find another computer which we can log on with administrative rights. Insert a blank CD/DVD into the CD-ROM drive in order to create a password reset disk.
  2. Download and install Password Recovery Bundle onto the computer. Launch Password Recovery Bundle, then click Windows Password button.
  3. The pop-up dialog allows you to create a password reset disk. Select your CD/DVD device and then click Start Burn button. The password reset disk will be fine after a while.
  4. Boot your domain controller from the password reset disk. You may need to modify computer’s BIOS setting and set CD/DVD as the 1st boot device.
  5. Once the boot procedure is complete, the password reset disk will launch the Reset Windows Password utility.
  6. Choose your Active Directory database (ntds.dit) file from the drop-down list. It’ll immediately display a list of domain user accounts.
  7. Select the administrator account and then click Reset Password button. After confirmation, the domain administrator password will be set to Password123 by default.

Now eject the password reset disk and restart the domain controller, you can then immediately log in to Windows Server with the new domain administrator password. With the password reset disk in your hand, no need to worry about forgetting domain user account passwords again!

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