Forgot Windows Server 2008/R2 Domain Admin Password How to Reset

Forgot domain admin password on Windows server 2008/R2? This probably should never happen, but there’s always that odd case you forget the domain administrator password. If you did your job right, you would normally dig out your notes with the backup domain administrator details and use that to reset the administrator password. However, you are not always lucky. Then you have to find some other ways to help reset your forgotten Windows server 2008/R2 domain administrator password.

In fact, there are several workable methods for resetting domain admin password without knowing it. This article will show you the details of these methods. When you forget your domain administrator password and locked out of the server controller, just choose one of these methods to regain access to your server 2008/R2 domain controller easily without data loss.

Method 1: Reset Windows Server 2008/R2 Domain Administrator Password with Windows Password Rescuer.

Method 2: Create a New Domain Admin Account for Windows Server 2008/R2 without Logging in.

Method 3: Use Command Prompt to Reset Domain Administrator Password in Windows Server 2008/R2.

Note: If you installed Windows server 2008/R2 or SBS 2008 on RAID drive, you can use the following method to reset forgotten domain administrator password: How to reset Windows Server 2008 administrator password on Raid.

Method 1: Reset Windows Server 2008/R2 Domain Administrator Password with Windows Password Rescuer.

Windows Password Rescuer is designed for resetting forgotten local/domain administrator password for Windows Operating System. With help of this powerful tool, you can easily reset password for Windows server 2019, 2016, 2012/R2, 2008/R2, 2003/R2, Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, etc.

This is one of the best Windows password reset tools which can help reset forgotten Windows local/domain administrator password without losing data. It is very easy to use. Key features of Windows Password Rescuer:

Reset forgotten local and domain user account password for Windows server 2019, 2016, 2012, 2008, 2003, SBS 2008/2011.
Reset forgotten local user account password for Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000.
Support creating Windows password recovery disk with CD/DVD and USB flash dirve.
Work perfectly for any brand of computer such as Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, HUAWEI, Samsung, Sony, etc.
Reset Windows password without affecting anything on the computer.

You can use the following links to purchase Windows Password Rescuer Advanced full version or free download trial version of the software.

Here I will show you how to use Windows Password Rescuer Advanced edition to reset forgotten Windows server 2008/R2 domain administrator password.

Step 1: Firstly, you need to use Windows Password Rescuer Advanced to create a password reset disk with USB on another computer, but not your locked computer.

1. Install the program on an accessible computer. (This software can be installed on any Windows OS.) Plug in a blank USB flash drive to the computer and launch the software. A friendly interface pops up, select “USB Device” option.

2. Choose the USB drive from list and then click “Begin Burning”. When a confirm message pops up, click “Yes” to start creating a password reset disk.

3. When it successfully completes burning, unplug the USB flash drive. Follow Step 2 to reset Windows server 2008/R2 domain password on your server computer.

Step 2: Boot your server computer from USB.

Plug the USB flash drive into your server computer. Hit F12 key repeatedly while powering on the server computer. When the Boot Menu appears, select the USB option and then press Enter key. The computer will reboot from USB. (Have trouble? Follow this step-by-step guide.)

Step 3: Reset Windows server 2008/R2 domain administrator password with a few clicks.

1. Wait for a moment, Windows Password Rescuer Advanced will run automatically and show you a friendly interface. Now select your Windows server 2008/R2 system.

2. Select your domain administrator account from list.

3. Click “Reset Password” button. When a confirm message pops up, click “Yes”.

4. The domain administrator password will be reset to “Hello@2011”.

5. Now you need to reboot the computer to load Windows. Just click “Reboot” button, when it ask you to eject password reset disk, unplug the USB flash drive and then click “Yes”.

6. Wait for the computer to load Windows server 2008/R2 normally. Then you can use the new password to log on to your domain administrator account.

Please change the password if you’d like to. Then write down the new password and keep it in a safe place. When you forget the password again, find out the copied password.

Method 2: Create a New Domain Admin Account for Windows Server 2008/R2 without Logging in.

Besides resetting the forgotten domain administrator password in Windows server 2008/R2, you can use Windows Password Rescuer Advanced to add a new domain admin account to your Windows server 2008/R2 easily. Then you can unlock the Domain controller with the new admin account. Here is how:

Step 1: Boot your server computer from the USB password reset disk which was created from Windows Password Rescuer Advanced.

Step 2: When Windows Password Rescuer Advanced appears on the screen, select your Windows server 2008/R2 and then click “Add User” button.

Step 3: When add user dialog appears, type a new user name and password in the box and then click “OK”. Note that the password must be fit for the password policy you have set up.

Step 4: The new domain admin account and password has been created successfully. Write down the password of the new admin account.

Step 5: Click “Reboot”. Unplug the USB flash drive when the confirm message pops up. Then click “Yes”.

Step 6: The server computer will reboot and load Windows server 2008/R2. Then you can use the new admin account and password to log into the sever computer. Now you can find that the new admin account has been listed in Active Directory.

Method 3: Use Command Prompt to Reset Domain Administrator Password in Windows Server 2008/R2.

This is an old method for resetting Windows server 2008/R2 domain administrator password. Firstly you need to prepare an official Windows server 2008/R2 install DVD. The basic idea is to boot your server computer from the Windows install DVD, open the command prompt, rename the Utilman.exe file and copy Cmd.exe in place of the Utilman.exe. When the server restarts, a command prompt can be brought up with full domain administrator permissions and which allows you to reset the domain administrator password without old one. Read the detailed instructions given bellow.

Step 1: Boot your server computer from an official Windows server 2008/R2 install DVD. When “Install Windows” box appears, click “Next”.

Step 2: Select “Repair your computer” link.

Step 3: Select the Windows server 2008/R2 installation drive on your computer. Then select “Next”.

Step 4: Open “Command Prompt” tool.

Step 5: Run the following commands to replace “utilman.exe” with “cmd.exe”. (See the screenshot given bellow)

Step 6: Close Command Prompt and then select “Restart”.

Step 7: When the logon screen appears, you can either use the keyboard combination Windows+U or click the "Ease of use" icon on the left bottom side of the logon screen. Command Prompt with full domain administrator permissions is open.

Step 8: At the command window, type “net user administrator Password123” and then press Enter key. The domain administrator password will be changed to the new one. You can replace “Password123” with what you’d like.