Active Directory: How to Change the Local Administrator Password on Domain Member Computers (dsforum2wiki)

Active Directory: How to Change the Local Administrator Password on Domain Member Computers (dsforum2wiki)


Overview

There are different ways to change the local Administator password on all domain computers at once, and some of them are explained in this DS forum thread: Change Local Administrator Password with group policy.

Update: A new solution for managing local Administrator passwords is now available on MSDN at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Solution-for-management-of-ae44e789. This solution is a client side GPO extension (CSE) that is simple and scalable, amongst many other benefits.

Using Group Policy Preferences to accomplish this is really easy. If you want to change the local Administator password on all domain computers at once, you might just edit the Default Domain Policy becasue that applies to all computers in the domain.
 

To Edit the Default Domain Policy

  1. Expand this setting: Computer Configuration | Preferences | Control Panel Settings | Local Users and Groups
  2. Right-click Local Users and Groups, click New, and then Local User.


    In the New Local User Properties dialog box, for User Name, type Administrator.
    You can rename the Administrator account on every domain computer, as in this example, and you can specify the new password.



You can use Group Policy Preferences on computers running Windows XP SP2/SP3 (with KB943729 installed) and later.
The forum thread covers logon script options too.


References

Change Local Administrator Password with group policy
 
 

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  • Ed Price MSFT edited Revision 2. Comment: Updated title per style standards.

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  • Take a look at the feature offered in SYNERGIX AD Client Extensions

    http://www.synergix.com

    The built-in administrator account password management has following options

    - System generated passwords with min 8 characters

    - Password changed frequently ( every 7 days )

    - Unique password across domain computers

    - Password validation ( every day )

    - No backend SQL , IIS server required.  

    - Manage backup administrator account, account name can be system generated

    - No scripting required

    - Only designated administrators can retrieve built-in administrator account password

    Found one link ...

    support.synergix.com/.../23775318-Test-Scenario-Managing-Built-In-Administrator-Account-Password

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