Hey everyone, are you wondering how to change a user’s password on Windows Server 2012 R2?Ever scratch your head because you think it’s really complicated,but it’s actually not?Coming up.
Introduction
I’m going to show you two different tools,two different ways,and boy, oh boy, is it going to be simple.Hello, everybody.My name is Adam Gordon, Edutainer here at ITProTV,coming at you with another wonderful set of tips, tools, and techniques to help you optimize your Windows Server administration experience.
Whether you’re using Windows Server 2016, Server 2019,or the brand new Server 2022,it’s all the same under the hood,and we’re going to show you a set of tools that are going to help you to change or reset user passwords,and believe it or not,it’s really going to be very simple and straightforward.I’m going to show you two ways to do this.
Window Server 2019 ?
We’re going to use Server 2019, running as a virtual machine?Join me here, if you will.But remember, the tools I’m about to show you and the ways we’re about to do this work the same way on Server 2016,they clearly will work in Server 2019,and they’re going to work the same in Server 2022.
The first way, it’s going to use a built-in tool.We’re going to go through the Server Manager;we’re going to go back to our old trusty Computer Management tool.We could do so many things there;they’re just like the Swiss Army knife of Computer Management tools.We’re going to go in there,and we’re going to be able to reset that local user password simply by finding the user and right-clicking on them and choosing that option.We’ll get a prompt.
Window Server Manager
We’ll go ahead and follow the instructions.Really straightforward.And then I’m going to break out a brand new tool for youthat’s web-based called the Windows Adminor Windows Administration Center; we’ll log in.
we’ll see how to do the same thing through the web interface.Let’s get started.I’m going to go down here to our Start Menu,and in case you’re not familiar with where to find the Server Manager,you can go in there if it’s not already open,and you’ll see alphabetically.
it’s listed under S,and it may very well just come up right there conveniently.But depending on the number of tools and the number of applications you have installed,it may or may not be available.You may have to go search for it and go down a little bit,but it’s always going to be pinned right up hereunder the Windows Server area on the right.
Microsoft Tool
It’s always going to be the upper leftmost tile.And I’m going to use thatto open the Server Manager right from there.Once we do that, and by the way,we’ll get a prompt to be able to download the Windows admin center if you want to use it right from here as we start up normally, unless you’ve chosen to simply make that go away and you can simply go out in Google To find the download link directly from Microsoft.
if you want to load the tool.After you get a chance to see it, you may want to start using it.I’m going to go over to the right-hand side,right over here to the Tools menu,and I’m going to click,and we have an alphabetized list of tools.We want our Computer Management tool,which is the second tool down on the list.
We’re going to open that up,and when we do that, we’ll give it just a second.We’ll double-click to make sure that it comes up full size and full screen.
We’ll move this over,and we’re going to come down over here,and I’m just going to open this up before I zoom in so you could see this.And we’re going to come down under Computer Management to local users and groups.Go to the Users folder.
Our list of users is over on the right.And your list may look different depending on the number of users you’ve created and what they’re called,but I’m going to reset the password on one of those Adam number of users.We’ll do Adam2 just for ease of use.So I’m going to right-click, highlight,and then right-click this particular user.
How to Reset Password ?
- And you’ll see there I have an option to set password.I can also go far over to the right, right over here,where it says more actions for users or for Adam2 specifically.And I can do the same thing right from here if I choose to.Just highlight, and you’ll see that I can click right here,and I have that same exact option.
- So I could do this from either place.It’s the same thing.When I do this, I get a prompt here that says,“Are you sure you want to set the password?”
- So setting really means resetting when Microsoft says that in this particular window.It says, “Resetting this might cause irreversible loss of information for this user account.”Meaning if you don’t know that this account is tied to other resources and you’re not familiar with what’s going on,and you change this password,you may or may not cause problems.
- You just want to make sure you’re doing this with kind of that forethought in mind of understanding the need for resetting it,making sure you know why this is happening,it’s a legitimate request,and you want to make sure that this is actually something that is a good idea.But let’s assume you’ve done all that,you know what’s going on.
Personal Security
we are empowered and have been decided or it’s been decided we’re going to reset this password,we simply click, Proceed.Let’s go ahead and do that.We’ll then be given a prompt here.And by the way, we’ve not changed password yet;we’re just reading the warning saying if we do this,we need to make sure we know what’s happening.I’m going to type in a new password, confirm it.
And then it says,“Once you do that,this user account will immediately lose access to all of its encrypted files, stored passwords,and personal security certificates.”Meaning again, you have to make sure you plan for this and know exactly what you’re about to do.
You’re about to lose access to any data that user has secured under this current user account with that current password before it is changed.And that may be a problem if you’re not prepared to be able to make sure all that data has been unencrypted,you have access to it,and you can essentially roll it forward and have access to it.
Password Change
once the passwords change.So planning here is going to be the key to success.But I’m going to go ahead and change this password.So let’s go ahead and do that.I don’t have any data that I’m worried about accessing that we’re going to lose access to.
So let’s do that.Put in our brand new password.Click OK.Password has been set.We have been successful.Click OK.That password has now been changed.It’s that simple