Change Built-in Administrator Password Using User Manager Pro

[Chris]

Change Built-in Administrator Password Using User Manager Pro

Rev: 1.1
Date: 09/14/2007

Problem

How can User Manager Pro change the passwords for the built-in administrator accounts on my workstations and servers? Can it do it even if I have renamed some or all of my administrator accounts to different values?

Resolution

User Manager Pro can be used to manage the passwords for your administrator accounts even if any or all of those accounts have been renamed. User Manager Pro will determine the name of the administrator account by performing a SID lookup on the account; the built-in administrator has a SID of 500 and this is what User Manager Pro looks for.

1. Open User Manager Pro and activate the systems list which contains the computer(s) you wish to manage.
   
2. Select/highlight the system(s) in the list that you wish to manage and click the USERS button at the center of the dialogue.
   
   
   
3. On the Users dialog, select the action to UPDATE form the “Action” area in the top left corner of the dialogue.
   
4. In the “User Name (Original)” type in “*A” without the quotes; this is case sensitive. *A is used by User Manager Pro to represent the built-in administrator account.
   
5. In the “Update” column, select the checkbox next to the “Fixed Password” radio button in the center of this dialog.
   
6. Choose the option to set a “Fixed Password” or to “Generate Unique Random Password…”
   
   Note: If you choose the option to “Save Passwords for Retrieval”, you will be able to recover these passwords later using the web based Password Recovery Console (http://www.liebsoft.com/index.cfm/products?id=380) or from within the tool by choosing PASSWORD RECOVERY from the MANAGE menu.
   
   
7. Click APPLY in the lower left corner to make the change occur immediately or click SCHEDULE to schedule the change to occur or recur at a later date.
   
   Note: Use of the scheduling feature requires User Manager Pro’s deferred processor to be installed.
   
   

Applies To:

User Manager Pro (UMP)
User Manager Pro Suite (UMPS)