TECH LINE: Lost Domain Admin Password Panic Here's what to
do when your
Windows 2003 domain password has been lost.
By Chris Wolf
Chris: I'm in a jam. I took over a contract with a new
office and cannot
log in to their domain controller. I contacted the previous
contractor
and the password he gave me doesn't work.
I can boot into Directory Services Restore Mode, but cannot
login to the
domain. Is there anything that I can do to reset the domain
administrator password?
-- Kyle
Good question, Kyle. You do have a few choices here. Since
you can get
to Directory Services Restore Mode, resetting the domain
administrator
password can be accomplished in a few minutes. If you need
to reset the
Directory Services Restore Mode Password, you can do this
using the
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor Bootdisk/CD
http://home.
eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ . The Offline NT Password
&
Registry Editor is a nice tool for resetting local account
passwords,
and since it's free, it works for my budget.
On a domain controller, you can access Directory Services
Restore Mode
by pressing F5 when the system starts to boot and then
selecting
Directory Services Restore Mode from the Windows Advanced
Options Menu.
Once you're logged in to Directory Services Restore Mode,
you're ready
to set up the password reset. My preferred method is to use
the Windows
Resource Kit tool AutoExNT. AutoExNT allows you to configure
a batch
script to run when the system starts, so it's an easy way
to use a
script to change the domain administrator password. To use
this method
to reset the domain administrator password, you'll first
need to
download the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools. You can
install the
tools on any Windows XP or Windows 2003 system. Once the
tools are
installed, navigate to the Resource Kit Tools installation
folder (default location = C:\Program Files\Windows
Resource
Kits\Tools). From the Tools folder, you'll need these
three files:
Autoexnt.exe, Servmess.dll, and Instexnt.exe. All three
files should be
copied to the %systemroot%\system32 folder (default =
C:\Windows\system32) on the domain controller.
With these files in place you now need to create a batch
file to be used
by the service. To do this, run the command:
notepad %systemroot%\system32\Autoexnt.bat
When prompted to create the file, click Yes. Now in Notepad,
enter:
net user administrator P ssw0rd /domain
In my example, I set the password to Pssw0rd. Of course, you can
set
this to whatever you like. Once you have this line in the
batch file,
save the file and close Notepad.
You're now ready to install the AutoExNT service. To do
this, go to the
command prompt and run the command "instexnt
install". When the command
completes, you should see the message "CreateService
AutoExNT SUCCESS
with InterActive Flag turned
OFF." By default, the service will be set to
Automatic, so you're ready
to go.
Now you can just reboot the domain controller. When it
reboots, the
password will be set to the password that you specified in
the batch
file. Log in as administrator with the new password and
you're all set.
Of course, you're not going to want the AutoExNT service to
run anymore
at bootup,
so you'll need to uninstall the service. To do this, go to
the command
prompt and run the command instexnt remove. You should now
see the
message "DeleteService SUCCESS" and you're all
done.
With this tool in your bag of tricks, try not to give away
how easy the
password reset really is. I prefer to build the drama like
any good
episode of House. "I can't promise anything, but
I'll do the best I can
to save her. I need to be alone for this, so please wait
outside." After
resetting
the password, you triumphantly leave the server room to the
applause of
your peers. Oh wait. I never actually did that.
It was only one of my pathetic dreams. I know...pretty sad!
Glenn Sullivan, MCSE+I MCDBA
David Clark Company Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: windows2000-bouncefreelists.org
[mailto:windows2000-bouncefreelists.org] On Behalf Of
Sorin Srbu
Posted At: Monday, June 26, 2006 8:41 AM
Posted To: Windows 2000
Conversation: [windows2000] Re: W2K3 Server - Password
recovery
Subject: [windows2000] Re: W2K3 Server - Password recovery
Charles R. Buchanan <> wrote on Monday, June 26, 2006
2:32 PM:
I've seen that too! Although on a winxp-machine. It
doesn't blank, but
allows logon with *some* (any?) pwd. This is not consistent
though,
sometimes it works, sometimes not.
> Meant to post this yesterday. I had downloaded that
program because I
> was having trouble logging in on W2K Pro. I downloaded
it, installed
> it and used the "Brute Force" method, but
it said it would take five
> hours and I'm not THAT patient! :-O So I downloaded
another program
from:
>
>
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/cd050303.zip
>
> (There's a newer version but it didn't boot the
machine (might have
> been my
> mistake))
>
> I booted the machine with that and chose to blank the
password. Well,
> it didn't blank it as far as I could tell, but for
some odd reason(s),
> was able to log on using the same password I
"thought" I had used in
> the first place! Weird! I probably needed to change an
option or what
> have you, but I think this one is faster at least.
<shrug>
>
>
> On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 09:39:49 +0200, "Sorin
Srbu"
> <sorin.srbuorgfarm.uu.se> took time to say the
following:
>
>> Dave Flaim <> wrote on Monday, June 26, 2006
2:59 AM:
>>
>> Google? 
>>
>>> It is a DC ... DELL server with SATA drives
configured for hardware
>>> RAID 1.
>>>
>>> Anybody know where I can get 10phtcrack?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>> Dave
>
> We're all living in America,
> America is wunderbar.
>
> *****************************
> New Site from The Kenzig Group!
> Windows Vista Links, list options
> and info are available at:
> http://www.VistaPop.com
> *****************************
> To Unsubscribe, set digest or vacation mode or view
archives use the
> below link.
>
> http://thethin.net
/win2000list.cfm
*****************************
New Site from The Kenzig Group!
Windows Vista Links, list options
and info are available at:
http://www.VistaPop.com
*****************************
To Unsubscribe, set digest or vacation
mode or view archives use the below link.
http://thethin.net
/win2000list.cfm
*****************************
New Site from The Kenzig Group!
Windows Vista Links, list options
and info are available at:
http://www.VistaPop.com
*****************************
To Unsubscribe, set digest or vacation
mode or view archives use the below link.
http://thethin.net
/win2000list.cfm
|