hi is there a quick easy way to manage the local administrator password - i am using sbs 2011 std and at the moment am having to manually go around to each pc (mainly w7's) and chang it locally? Thx Elliott

You could use a logon script or GPP to push out an update for the users password, just make sure to test what you have done in GPP on a non production workstation to make sure you are not pushing out a bad policy.

Hi, According to your scenario, we recommend you use Group Policy Preference feature to update local Administrator password. Create a GPO and link it to a scope (site, domain or OU level) that contains all your computer accounts, configure the GPO: Computer Configuration-->Preferences-->Control Panel Settings-->Local User and Groups-->New: Local User-->Action: Update-->User Name: select Administrator (built-in) form dropdown list For more information please refer to following MS articles: How to change the password for the local administrator account on multiple machines (the easy way without scripting) http://blogs.technet.com/b/jratsch/archive/2009/03/27/how-to-change-the-password-for-the-local-administrator-account-on-multiple-machines-the-easy-way-without-scripting.aspx Active Directory: How to Change the Local Administrator Password on Domain Member Computers http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/1827.active-directory-how-to-change-the-local-administrator-password-on-domain-member-computers-dsforum2wiki.aspx And a new solution for managing local Administrator passwords is now available on MSDN at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Solution-for-management-of-ae44e789 This solution is a client side GPO extension (CSE) that is simple and scalable, amongst many other benefits.Lawrence TechNet Community Support

i like the 1st link provided by Lawrence Lv but this seems to be for normal 2008 and we hve SBS 2011 STD - I cant find a group policy managment editor anywhere only a group policy managemnt console which looks totally different to the examples shown!!!

check out the following topic and see whether you can adapt the advice to help achieve your desired goals. http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2009/09/03/how-to-manually-create-the-sbs-2008-and-wsus-group-policies-objects.aspx. Cheers.

Hi, > I cant find a group policy managment editor anywhere only a group policy managemnt console which > looks totally different to the examples shown Group Policy Management Console is a tool to manage Group Policy Object (GPO); Group Policy Management Editor is a tool to edit GPO settings. You can first use Group Policy Management Console to create a new GPO, link the GPO to a Scope (Site, domain or OU level, not group) that contain your computer accounts. Then right click to edit the GPO, it will launch Group Policy Management Editor for configuration. Best Practice: How to use Group Policy Preferences to Secure Local Administrator Groups http://www.grouppolicy.biz/2010/01/how-to-use-group-policy-preferences-to-secure-local-administrator-groups/Lawrence TechNet Community Support

thx, I finally got it sorted, I think!!!