Windows server 2008 password forgotten, and is it still a Domain controller? Don’t panic, now recover Windows server password by the following four options.
Option 1:Recover Windows Server 2008 Password with Start Disk
1.Restart your Windows Server 2008 with the installation CD or any USB/DVD you can boot from and get access to the HDD drive.
2.Booted from Server media, selectNext
3.SelectRepair your computer
4.Select your partitions and installed Windows version and clickNext
5.Select command prompt
6.Change directory to the access the system 32 directory. Then your originalC:drive is changed to D: or E: depending on the number of drive and partitions you have on that system.
7.RenameUtilman.exe to Utilman.old and copy cmd.exe toUtilman.exe, exit and reboot
After the reboot select the Ease of access icon
8.You will get a command prompt and use net user admin user password to change the password
At the user logon screen, press a combination ofWindows KEY+U, then the CMD.exe will appear. Type net user “Username””new password”
After you changed the password, exit the command prompt and login in with the new password. Don’t forget to change the Utilman.old back to Utilman.exe. It could be that you will need to reboot with your media to change the Utilman back.
Option 2: Reset Windows Server password withWindows Password Genius Raid
iSunshare Windows Password Genius Raidis an effective and guaranteed method to reset administrator password for Windows Server 2008 Raid. After simple five steps, Windows Server 2008 Raid can be fully recovered.
Section 1:Create/burn a Windows password reset boot disk on an accessible computer
>> Download full version of Windows Password Recovery Raid on the computer you can access.
>> Insert USB or CD/DVD into computer and launch Windows Password Recovery Raid
>> Select USB or CD/DVD you have inserted into computer just now and click “Begin burning” to start boot disk burning
>> When “Burning Successfully” message pops up, click “OK” to make sure you have burned a Windows password reset boot disk.
Section 2:Reset Windows Server password on locked Raid Server
>> Insert Windows password reset boot disk into locked server, and click “Del” or “F2” to boot it from USB or CD/DVD when the server starts.
>> Until Windows password recovery program interface appears, affirm Windows system and select user account you prepare to recover its password.
>> Click “Reset password” and then dialog box pops up, choose “Yes” to eject Windows password recovery raid and restart server later.
If not, close the dialog box, and click “Reboot” directly to start server immediately.
Option 3: Reset Windows Server Raid password with Raid-WinPE
1. Download Raid-WinPE from Internet
2. Click “F6” to load Raid drive when entering WinPE and keep floppy disk with Raid drive in USB floppy drive, then insert it into server and reboot server
3. Click “F6” to load Raid drive and enter WinPE
4. Modify or add user name, and modify password are provided.
For example, you can modify password and after setup successfully, restart server and login with new password.
Option 4: Reset Windows Server Raid password with Command Prompt
Purpose:Add local administrator account or modify administrator password through command prompt
1.Take installation CD of Windows Server 2008 R2 as a boot disk to start computer, finish loading installation image and then enter the language selection screen. Click “Shift+F10” to open command prompt screen
2.Access the partition Windows directory stored and position toWindows\System32. (The default partition is C: \)
3.Find and delete osk.exe from Windows\System32
>> Type: C: \Windows\System32\dir osk.exe on the screen
//you can see osk.exe below
>> Type:
C: \Windows\System32\del osk.exe
C: \Windows\System32\dir osk.exe
//Now you can’t find out osk.exe again because it has been deleted
4.Copy and Rename cmd.exe to osk.exe
>> Type:
C: \Windows\System32\copy cmd.exe osk.exe
C: \Windows\System32\dir osk.exe
//osk.exe appears means copy cmd.exe successfully
5.Reboot computer and click the button “Ease of access” on the bottom left. Choose “Don’t type with Keyboard” and then click “Yes” on the pop-up dialog
6.When Command prompt screen appears, modify local administrator account password with net user command. If you are not sure the name of administrator account, you also can create a new account and password. The command follows:
net usersadmin user Password /add
net local group administratorsadmin user /add
7.Sign in server with local administrator account and password created or modified just now.
Last but not the least, copy osk.exe from another computer installed with Windows Server 2008 R2, and keep it on your server to replace osk.exe