Hello guys, Last night I had a fellow colleague doing some work on my computer under my domain admin account. He said that he was trying to access one of the network drives and he said that it was giving him an access error. So his natural decision was to log out and log back in. When he did that and tried to log back in under the same account and password it says that my username or password is incorrect. All other user accounts on the domain are still working, but I really don't know what he did or what the error in the password may be. I guess I really don't know what else to try. There is another administrator account on the 2008 R2 server, but the guy who originally set it up does not know what the password is. So I guess anything would be helpful at this point. Even if that means I need to take the server to best buy, or whatever. Appreciate any feedback Thanks, Josh

Ok, if I understand your admin domain account is not working ? you might want to look at this link http://www.petri.co.il/reset_domain_admin_password_in_windows_server_2008_ad.htm

Hello, you can perform an authoritative restore of a DC using a backup that dates before the appearance of your problem. Do you have another domain admin? If yes then use it to reset your admin account's password. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator

MS Max, I got logged into the Restore Mode, but when I started looking at the command prompts and cofiguring the SRVANY folder. When I try to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\PassRecovery in Regedit I can get to the \Services, but within that folder there is no PassRecovery folder so I guess from there I'm kind of stuck again. Anything further you can think of? and Mr X I do not have the passwords to any of the other admin accounts that are set up in AD. So I can't change the password that way :( and I don't know that I have any acceptable back-ups to run either.

MS Max, I got logged into the Restore Mode, but when I started looking at the command prompts and cofiguring the SRVANY folder. When I try to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\PassRecovery in Regedit I can get to the \Services, but within that folder there is no PassRecovery folder so I guess from there I'm kind of stuck again. Anything further you can think of? and Mr X I do not have the passwords to any of the other admin accounts that are set up in AD. So I can't change the password that way :( and I don't know that I have any acceptable back-ups to run either. If you have no other domain admins and your password had been changed and also you have no backup then I don't another way to proceed other than rebuilding your AD domain from scratch. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator

You might try to create the PassRecovery folder and see how it goes or run instsrv PassRecovery with elevated privilege. You should look at this link too: http://blog.kudositsolutions.co.uk/2010/07/31/how-to-reset-the-domain-administrator-password-on-windows-server-2008-with-the-windows-installation-dvd/ I had to reset the domain administrator password on Windows Server 2008 because the previous company didn’t tell the customer the details .. What is needed Windows 2008 DVD Server hooked upto a monitor, keyboard and mouse Instructions Insert the original Windows Server 2008 installation DVD. Reset the computer, boot from DVD. Choose option “Repair your computer”. Start command prompt. C:\ CD C:\Windows\System32 MOVE Utilman.exe Utilman.exe.bak COPY Cmd.exe Utilman.exe Restart windows At the login screen, type Windows-U, this fires up cmd.exe now NET USER administrator <new password> Presto! Login as administrator! Now repair computer again, command prompt MOVE Utilman.exe.bak Utilman.exe I never done thoses procedures before, so I cannot really help you more. Good luck !

I've tried this on a local administrator account in Windows Server 2008, but not on a domain administrator computer. So, I'm not entirely sure if this will work. But I think you should give it a try: To fix this, you'll need the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD. Use this DVD to boot from it and click on "System Repair" option that you see just before the installation starts. Follow the procedure described in the zip file that I have uploaded here for you: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=5b7a1e5ef7ab6d25#cid=5B7A1E5EF7AB6D25&id=5B7A1E5EF7AB6D25!113 Hope this helps! Caution: Involves modifying the registry. Proceed only if you are familiar with the registry. Kunal D Mehta - a Windows Server Enthusiast.

Hi, The suggestion MS Max provided should work, although it is not supported by Microsoft. After reset the domain administrator password, it is recommended for you to protect the domain controller by accessing the physical machine. In addition, you may consider deploying the software restriction policy by using the Hash rule. In this way, the fake “Utilman.exe” will not be executed. How To use Software Restriction Policies in Windows Server 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324036 However, in general, to protect your domain environment, you should plan good physical machine access policy and protection mechanism. As described in the following TechNet article, if a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore. 10 Immutable Laws of Security http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/community/columns/security/essays/10imlaws.mspx A user could boot the computer from a floppy disk, and reformat your hard drive. But wait, you say, I've configured the BIOS on my computer to prompt for a password when I turn the power on. No problem – if he can open the case and get his hands on the system hardware, he could just replace the BIOS chips. (Actually, there are even easier ways). Meanwhile, he could remove the hard drive from your computer, install it into his computer, and read it. Regards, Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

If you have accessibility options enabled and no hard disk encryption, try this... Boot to installation media and get a cmd prompt run the following commands: copy c:\windows\system32\magnify.exe c:\windows\system32\magnify.exe.old copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\magnify.exe reboot When prompted to login, click the accessibility button (bottom left) and place a check next to screen magnifier. This should launch a command prompt window with system level privs. You can now *safely* change the administrator's password. There are some other way to reset Windows password with a bootable CD/DVD or USB flash drive. 1. Reset windows password with Ophcrack 2. Reset windows password with "Advanced WIndows password recovery tool" These tools is to reset the password offline. It is not so troublesome that you forgot server 2008 password, you can see this article about server 2003/2008/2000 password recovery. Two steps: 1. Create a password reset disk; 2. Reset Windows server 2008/2003/2000 local or domain administrator password offline. Instantly Recover Windows Server 2008/2003/2000 Administrator Password