Resetting your password via the command line

windows, windows server, windows 10, command line

Resetting a password from the command line using the 'net user' command

If, like me, you're working remotely at the moment you might be spending a non-trivial amount of time using Remote Desktop to hop on and off various machines. It might be that, also like me, you have to access machines that are in a DMZ using machine specific logins. If that's the case you can't just hit CTRL-ALT-END to change your password for the DMZ machine when it's multiple levels of remote desktop down (or if you can, lucky you - it doesn't work for me!). The tool I've been using is the NET command. The syntax for this command to change your password is:

NET USER username *

Substitute your username for username in the command and enter your new password when prompted (twice), and that's that done.

You could also open Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management and navigate to the System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users node to change your password but that would need the server to have the Desktop Experience available (i.e. not a 'Core' installation).

About Rob

I've been interested in computing since the day my Dad purchased his first business PC (an Amstrad PC 1640 for anyone interested) which introduced me to MS-DOS batch programming and BASIC.

My skillset has matured somewhat since then, which you'll probably see from the posts here. You can read a bit more about me on the about page of the site, or check out some of the other posts on my areas of interest.

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