Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Reset Windows / Windows Server / Domain Controller Administrator Password

Step1: Boot from Windows Bootable disk and select "Repair your Computer" Option


Step2: Follow  instructions until you get to following "Command Prompt" Option

Step3: Find which drive has Windows
Check if  C: drive has 'Windows' folder. If not, try D drive
>c:
         c:\>dir
        
        c:\> d:
        d:\> dir

Step4:  Replace Utilman.exe with cmd.exe. Note: Utilman.exe and cmd.exe are located under  Windows/System32
>cd Windows
Windows>cd System32
Windows\system32>move Utilman.exe  Utilman.exe.old
Windows\system32>copy  cmd.exe Utilman.exe
Windows\system32>exit

Step5:  Restart the server

Step6:  Once the booting is done, you are back to the logon screen. Click on the 'Ease of Access' icon

Hurray!!!.... There is your command prompt :)

Step7: Change the user password using command prompt.
>net   user   administrator   *
(Note: Windows doesn't allow easy passwords)

That's it. Now you can login as 'administrator' user

Let's say you want to add new user and add that user to the admin group
>net   user hacker   password123   /add
>net localgroup   administrators   hacker   /add

Don't forget to rename Utilman.exe.old to Utilman.exe.
Windows\system32>move Utilman.exe  Utilman.exe.old

Please use this instruction responsibly for the legitimate purpose.