Recipe16.8.Setting a User s Password

Recipe 16.8. Setting a User's Password

Problem

You want to set the password for a user.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the ADUC snap-in.

2. In the left pane, right-click on the domain and select Find.

3. Select the appropriate domain beside In.

4. Type the name of the user beside Name and click Find Now.

5. In the Search Results, right-click on the user and select Reset Password.

6. Enter and confirm the new password.

7. Click OK.

Using a command-line interface

This command changes the password for the user specified by <UserDN>. Using * after the -pwd option causes you to be prompted you for the new password. You can replace * with the password you want to set, but it is not a good security practice since other users that are logged into the machine may be able to see it.

> dsmod user <UserDN> -pwd *

Using VBScript

' This code sets the password for a user. ' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------ strUserDN = "<UserDN>"   ' e.g., cn=jsmith,cn=Users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com strNewPasswd = "NewPasword" ' ------ END CONFIGURATION --------- set objUser = GetObject("LDAP://" & strUserDN) objUser.SetPassword(strNewPasswd) Wscript.Echo "Password set for " & objUser.Get("cn")

Discussion

The password for a user is stored in the unicodePwd attribute. You cannot directly modify that attribute, but have to use one of the supported APIs. With the VBScript solution you can use the IADsUser::SetPassword method as shown or IADsUser::ChangePassword. The latter requires the existing password to be known before setting it. This is the method you'd want to use if you've created a web page that accepts the previous password before allowing a user to change it.

See Also

MS KB 225511 (New Password Change and Conflict Resolution Functionality in Windows), MS KB 264480 (Description of Password-Change Protocols in Windows 2000), MSDN: IADsUser::SetPassword, and MSDN: IADsUser::ChangePassword