Restore a saved Remote-Desktop Password?

Question

Some fool in my company has scrapped the page with the root password for our hyper-v server.

Fortunately I've saved the password in the Remote Desktop Connection, so I'm able to connect remotely. How can we restore the password without forcing a reboot?

I'm assuming your talking about the administrator password? Is this server a full Windows install (with GUI) or a server core install (command line only). You should just be able to log in to the hyper-v host via RDP and change the password, what is stopping you doing this? — Sam Cogan, Sep 23 '11 at 08:07
This reminds me of the time I had to call a locksmith because I locked the keys inside of my convertible... I had to get in because the top was down and it was about to rain... — joeqwerty, Sep 23 '11 at 11:56
it's a basic GUI installation - i'm able to login via RDP, but to change the password i need to know the current first (please confirm your current password). @joeqwerty: feeling the same... — mate64, Sep 23 '11 at 12:06
You're talking about changing a Windows user account password, right? If so, then knowing the current password isn't required to change the password. Am I missing something? When you say basic GUI installation, what do you mean exactly? — joeqwerty, Sep 23 '11 at 12:38
@joeqwerty: basic means it's a standard windows 2008 server. I can access the server with the pre-saved RDP configuration and no: you can't change the root password without entering the old one. So how can I read the password of the locally saved RDP-Connection ? — mate64, Sep 23 '11 at 13:55
Umm... yes you can. If this is a local user account then go to Server Manager, expand the Configuration node, expand the Local Users and Groups node, select the Users node, right click the user, and select "Set Password", click the Proceed button and proceed to change the password. If this is a domain user account the procedure is the same except you'll perform the procedure from the ADUC console. — joeqwerty, Sep 23 '11 at 14:30
@joeqwerty: Another way, to edit user accounts. I never would have guessed... please post this comment as a new answer, and i'll vote it up. thank you again ! — mate64, Sep 26 '11 at 09:42

Pedram · Answer 1 · 2015-11-13T18:32:31.003

I know this is an old question, but I had this same problem and I was trying to find a way to fix it, I find this question here, While I tried to do as the chosen answer in here, I Could not find the mentioned parts.

So I asked the server administrator and he told me this way:

Write in cmd :

net user administrator password

Where administrator is the name of the user and password is the password u want to set.

Worked Perfectly in a sec !

Hope it help for the next person with this problem :D

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 26 '11 at 11:27

If this is a local user account then go to Server Manager, expand the Configuration node, expand the Local Users and Groups node, select the Users node, right click the user, and select "Set Password", click the Proceed button and proceed to change the password. If this is a domain user account the procedure is the same except you'll perform the procedure from the ADUC console.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 26 '11 at 13:11

If you have the password saved/cached locally, this tool from NirSoft might be useful to you: it should be capable of reading locally saved RDP passwords.

(Full disclosure: I've used several NirSoft tools in the past to get myself out of such accidental lockouts, no other connection to the company)

Restore a saved Remote-Desktop Password?

3 Answers3