Categories: vSphere

Resetting Administrator Password in Windows 2012/2008 VM

If you face any challenge to login to VM after restoreing from backup you may use below method to reset the password of windows 2012/2008 server .

Boot from the Micrsoft Windows Server 2012/2008 DVD

From the Windows Setup menu, click “Next”.
Select “Repair your computer”

Under Choose and option, click on “Troubleshoot”.
Under Advanced options, click “Command Prompt”.

At the command prompt, run the following commands:
d:cd windows\system32
ren Utilman.exe Utilman.exe.old
copy cmd.exe Utilman.exe
Close the command prompt and then click “Continue”.

The server should now boot and present the logon screen. Here click Windows Key + U.

At the prompt you can now change the password, by typing the following command:
net user administrator “yourpassword”

This will set the password for the Administrator user to be “yourpassword ” (case sensitive).

Closing the command prompt, you should now be able to log back onto the server using the password you have provided in the last step.

Cleanup Steps

Once you have verified you can log on to the server you will have repeat the steps above and boot using the Windows Server 2008 DVD/ISO and run the command prompt again.

Restart your server and once again, boot from the Micrsoft Windows Server 2012 DVD
From the Windows Setup menu, click “Next”.
Select “Repair your computer”
Under Choose and option, click on “Troubleshoot”.
Under Advanced options, click “Command Prompt”.
At the command prompt, run the following commands:
d:cd windows\system32
ren utilman.exe utilman.exe.newcopy
utilman.exe.old utilman.exe