How to change the Domain Administrator Password

This is a question I’ve been asked ( and not asked – to the users later found nightmare ) quite often. For whatever reason being that the password has been leaked or its just been in use too long.

Now there are a number of things to do before we actually change the Domain admin accounts password. Follow this quick guide and there should be no issues.

1) Create a backup account – just in case. Just do this by copying the administrator account and then putting in a new password..

2) Once this is done we then need to make sure on EVERY server in the domain that no services are running with the old administrator account and password

Launch servces.msc from Start > Run or launch services from administrator tools >Services.

Then go through the full list of services checking that none say DOMAINNAME\administrator. If they do then change the service to use another domain account or local account with the relevant rights. For instance on the picture below you will see arc serve services. Sometimes people install software as the administrator account.

Once you are sure that that none of  your services are running the old administrator password you can then proceed to change the administrator password.

Yes I know this may seem dead simple but you wouldn’t believe the amount of admin’s that just go ahead and change it without taking these simple steps!