Forgot AD Administrator password in Windows Server 2008

[Mathias]

Hello

We have a few customers, who have forgot their AD Administrator password on their Win2008 server.

Is there really any way to recover it?

I know it's possible to reset your win2000, xp and Vista password. But is it possible to do get the AD administrator password on a 2008 server?

It's the standard edition, if that means anything to you.

I hope we can avoid a re-install

Cheers.

 

[Mathias]

Bump.

 

[KSoD]

Try:

Reset-ADServiceAccountPassword SQL-SRV1

Where SQL-SRV1 is the account that needs the password reset.

I am assuming AD stands for Active Directory.

 

[Hefemeister]

Do they have any user with admin rights on the server who knows there username and pass?

If so they could just reset the pass in AD.

If not you would need some type of a linux boot disk.

 

[Mathias]

Try:

Reset-ADServiceAccountPassword SQL-SRV1

Where SQL-SRV1 is the account that needs the password reset.

I am assuming AD stands for Active Directory.

From where can I run that command, when I'm not able to login?

Do they have any user with admin rights on the server who knows there username and pass?

If so they could just reset the pass in AD.

If not you would need some type of a linux boot disk.

Which Linux live disk can hack an AD password?

 

[KSoD]

So you cant login to the PC's at all? Are they part of the Domain?

 

[Bruce]

For this you will need local access

Forgot the Administrator's Password? - Change Domain Admin Password in Windows Server 2008 AD

 

[NeoPlosive]

The above method will only work if DSR mode doesn't have a custom password set for it.

You should be able to use ophcrack liveCD (windows xp version reportedly works for server 2003).

You can download it from the sourceforge project page, however, if the server isn't yours it is very much illegal to use it.

Ophcrack

The above method will not work if the user implements a 14+ character password.