How to Change Domain User/Admin Password with or without Password

To change the domain user/Admin password, you should be aware that these passwords are stored on the domain and not a specific computer. There are times when you need to change it. It could be that you forgot, you have been using it for too long, or fear that it’s compromised.

In any case, the guides contained on this page will help you change domain admin password easily. If you forgot the domain admin password, don’t worry because we also have instructions for carrying out this process without knowing the password. Let’s get right to it now.

Part 1: Without Password if Forgot, Change Domain User or Admin Password Using Third-party Tool

The easiest way to change domain admin password is by using Windows Password Recovery. It’s a versatile program that handles everything about user account passwords in Windows computers.

For smooth operation using Windows Password Recovery, follow this guide to recover your forgotten password. If you don’t know about this software, then brace up because next, I’ll give you a brief overview of it and all of its significant benefits.

Key features

• Windows Password Recovery allows you to change domain admin/user passwords without logging in, following three simple steps. It is beginner-friendly but powerful enough for professional users.
• To use it to reset forgotten domain password, you require no additional software, as it also allows users to create a password reset disk from within the application.
• It is also compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, and older Windows versions password reset.
• This program also supports Windows Server 2016, 2012, 2011, 2008, etc.
• Your data stays safe using Password Genius because it does not wipe your drive when you change domain password in Windows.

How to change domain password

Step 1: Make a password reset disk

Install and open Windows Password Recovery on a different computer from the one you forgot domain password on. From the first page, you will have to create a Windows password reset disk on a USB drive, CD, or DVD. Click either “USB device” or “CD/DVD,” depending on the media you wish to use.

Next, you insert your CD or DVD or connect the USB drive and select it from the menu on the next page. After this, click on the “Begin burning” button.

After specifying your password reset media, wait for Windows Password Recovery to complete the creation of the disk. You will know when this happens from the “Burning Successfully” prompt you will see on the page.

Step 2:  Boot locked computer with the password reset disk

After creating the password reset disk on the second computer, connect the drive to the locked machine on the domain and turn on the PC. To configure your Windows machine to boot from the inserted password reset disk, press the Boot entry key for your computer to get into the boot menu.

This boot entry key differs between computers and is usually displayed on your computer’s screen. Press this key continuously until you see the boot menu, something like in the screenshot below:

Next, select the newly created and inserted password reset disk from the boot menu, and your computer will boot into the Windows Password Recovery interface.

Step 3:   Change domain admin/user password

When you arrive at the Windows Password Recovery page, you will see a screen indicating different steps. We will go through the various steps here and what to do.

First, if you have multiple Windows systems installed on your hard drive, select the applicable one, and continue to the second step. Next, choose the account for which you want to change the domain user password.

After choosing the domain user account, click on the “Reset Password” button to change the forgotten domain admin password. Finally, hit “Reboot” when you are done to effect the changes, and you have successfully changed domain admin password in Windows.

Part 2: With Password After Login, Change Domain Admin Password Using Command Prompt

In the Windows Command Prompt is another superb method of changing domain admin password. For this solution, you need no third-party software. However, what you do require is Admin access to the Windows system. Here’s the procedure for doing this:

Step 1: Open Command Prompt as an Administrator. To do this Press the “Windown button + X” combination and select “Command Prompt (Admin)”.

Step 2: Next, in the Command Prompt window, enter the following command:
”net user Administrator Password123 /domain”
NOTE: For the above command, replace “Password123” with your new desired password.

command to change your windows domain admin password

Step 3: After typing the command above, hit Enter to run it. The command tells Windows to change the password to whatever you entered. That’s all!

Part 3: With Password After Login, Change Domain User Password Using Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC)

In your Windows Domain environment, passwords are very crucial pieces of information. If it gets compromised or for some reason, you wish to change your domain password, you can do so using Active Directory Users and Computer via a Remote Desktop connection.

One thing to note is that you need to know the password to change it using this method. Below are the steps to change domain user password.

Step 1: Press the Windows key and search for “remote desktop.” Select the “Remote Desktop” option from the results to launch the Remove Desktop Connection Application.

Step 2: Next, enter the name of the computer into the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box and hit the “Connect” button.

If you are required to enter the credentials of the computer before connecting to it, use the username and password of the domain admin account.

Step 3: When you enter the correct login credentials and gain access to the remote computer, click on the Start button to open the Start menu. There, search for “Active Directory” and select “Active Directory Users and Computers” from the results.

Step 4: In the Active Directory Users and Computers page, navigate to the “Users” panel at the left of the page.

Step 5: Next, to the right of the page after selecting “Users,” right-click on the user for which you want to change the domain admin password and then click on “Reset Password.”

Step 6: The “Reset Password” dialog box will open. Here, enter your preferred new password and type it in again below to confirm the password. Before clicking “OK,” you may want to unmark the “User must change password at next logon” checkbox. Hit “OK” to register the password change and close the dialog box.

Conclusion

If you follow any of the above guides on changing domain passwords, then by now, you can now log in to machines on the domain using the new password.

For a recap, we went over the process of changing your domain password using Active Directory Users and Computers if you know the password already, as well as another technique where we used the command prompt .   For users who forgot domain admin/user password, we presented a method of changing it using the powerful tool called Windows Password Recovery.