From time to time in the IT support world you may need to reset a network users password. This tutorial applies to Windows Server 2003. Its a pretty easy task and Ill walk you through it.
Active Directory allows Windows network administrators the ability to manage user accounts as well as other valuable resources from from a central location. Network users have the ability to log into any other computer on the server Active directory. If a user forgets his/her password they will be locked out and will not be able to get any work done. Now you need to know how to reset it. The process is pretty simple.
Using the Windows interface:
1. Open Active directory users and computers
2. Click the users folder in the console tree on the left.
3. Right click the user whose password you need to change and then click reset password.
4. Enter and confirm the new password.
5. Here you can require the user to change his or her password the next time they log in.
Note: In order to do this you must be a domain admin, account operator, or enterprise admin.
Using the command line:
1. Open the command prompt.
2. Enter dsmod userUserName-pwdNewPassword3. If you want to require the user to change the password at the next logon enter: dsmod userUserName-mustchpwd {yesno}
Thats it! Nice and easy.