Re: How can I change the admin password of all our XP PC's on the

To bad I didn't grab a copy when I could. This fortune 50 (not 500)
multi-national company developed a script that a domain would run. It would
allow you to choose the PCs (assuming they are visible in the
N-Neighbourhood) and change them all en mass - and generate a log file.

"Simon" wrote:

One other way of changing the password is to re-image all the pc's (depends
on how many pc's you have) changing the password in the process. Generally
users will accept this as it was part of an 'upgrade', they may not even
notice, until they want to install some 'personal' software.

Otherwise renaming the accounts is certainly one way round your problem.

"Cyborg" wrote:

This looks like a quick fix for now?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816109


"Austin Osuide" <austin@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:yI8Ti.3953$TY4.3104@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Cyborg,

You've got a problem thats really not very easy to solve (read cheap).
You have this problem because it is the nature of all but the least
inquisitive of users to want to be admins on their workstations.
If you dont give the user accounts admin privilages, they go for the local
admin account.
Now, your next problem is how do you manage the local admin account? Do
you
set the same one on all workstations?
If you do that, all that needs happen is one user finding out and "word
gets
around" or the document that "holds" the password gets into the wrong
hands.
Regular use of the password even makes it more insecure. Will you change
it
regularly on all workstations? A real procedural nightmare depending on
the
size of your estate.
If you have different passwords for different workstatins, how do you
provide ready access to admins who require it?
Several home grown Apps exist which derive an admin password from the
workstation name based on some algorithm but securing the tool becomes the
issue and usually, it doesnt take a rocket scientis to reverse engineer
them.
So you decide to pay for some Enterprise Class tool to do this for you if
especially you have thousands of boxes to visit. And there companies out
there who wite apps for just that.
As an example ( not a recomendation by any way, shape or form), see:
http://www.liebsoft.com/index.cfm/products?id=512.

HTH,

Austin



"Cyborg" <andrewwhite@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B3A473D8-D40D-4ED0-B3E8-4A034552684F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi this is great, do I need to change anything in this script apart form
the "testpassword"

I take it I can then add the script to the logon part of the doamin group
policy?


"Simon" <Simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:55FB500B-675B-426B-9E75-F3954A30DA2B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
try this as part of a logon/startup script:

strComputer = "MyComputer"
Set objUser = GetObject("WinNT://" & strComputer & "/Administrator,
user")
objUser.SetPassword "testpassword"
objUser.SetInfo

To make it more generic, you will need to set the script to get the pc's
computer name before trying to change the password.

"Cyborg" wrote:

Somehow many of our users know the local admin password for our XP
machines,
is there a way to change this on all PC's to something else, like a
group
policy?







.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How can I change the admin password of all our XP PCs on the doma
    ... You don't go to each workstation and check if that user changed the local admin password. ... If the box has a problem that means you can't use a domain admin account to logon, it is usually quicker to rebuild than troubleshoot. ... If you want to control the Local Administrators on the workstations, just disable the Local Administrator, and then use another GPO or Script that adds a existing security group in your AD as member of the local Administrators on the workstations. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: How can I change the admin password of all our XP PCs on the doma
    ... If the box has a problem that means you can't use a domain admin account to logon, it is usually quicker to rebuild than troubleshoot. ... Laptops will present special requirements that may make you want to bend the rules for them but I think the idea of disabling the local admin account has its merits. ... If you want to control the Local Administrators on the workstations, just disable the Local Administrator, and then use another GPO or Script that adds a existing security group in your AD as member of the local Administrators on the workstations. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: How can I change the admin password of all our XP PCs on the
    ... inquisitive of users to want to be admins on their workstations. ... If you dont give the user accounts admin privilages, ... your next problem is how do you manage the local admin account? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: How can I change the admin password of all our XP PCs on the
    ... If you want to control the Local Administrators on the workstations, ... the script against any PC? ... credentials can't tell that the admin account has been renamed by ... looking in computer management or asking some other friendly admin? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: How can I change the admin password of all our XP PCs on the doma
    ... If you want to control the Local Administrators on the workstations, ... credentials can't tell that the admin account has been renamed by ... looking in computer management or asking some other friendly admin? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)