Resetting User Passwords

By some estimates, the single most time-consuming task of most network administrators is resetting user passwords. It's tempting to think that users are just forgetful idiots, but put yourself in their shoes. Network administrators insist that users set their passwords to something incomprehensible, such as 94kD82leL384K, that they change it a week later to something even less memorable, such as dJUQ63DWd8331, and that they don't write it down. Then they get mad when users forget their passwords.

Tip 

When a user calls and says that she forgot her password, the least you can do is be cheerful when you reset it for her. She probably spent 15 minutes trying to remember it before giving up and admitting failure.

Here's the procedure to reset the password for a user domain account:

REMEMBER 

1. Log on as an administrator.

   You must have administrator privileges to perform this procedure.

2. Choose Start Administrative Tools Active Directory Users and Computers.

   The Active Directory Users and Computers management console appears.

3. Click Users in the console tree.

4. In the Details pane, right-click the user who forgot her password and choose Reset Password.

5. Type the new password in both password boxes.

   You type the password twice to ensure you type it correctly.

   Tip 

   If you check the User Must Change Password at Next Logon option, the password that you assign works for only one logon. As soon as the user logs on, she is required to change the password.

6. Click OK.

   That's all there is to it! The user's password is now reset.