What to do if you forgot the administrator password in Windows Server 2016? As a IT administrator, you should have ever experienced trouble logging into a server with unknown password, so in this post we’ll show two simple ways to reset forgotten Windows Server 2016 administrator password. These methods work on other Windows versions as well.
Reset Windows Server 2016 Password with Installation Disk
If you have the original Windows installation disk, you can reset forgotten Windows Server 2016 password by following these steps:
- Boot the server from the Windows Server 2016 Installation DVD. When the Setup screen appears, press SHIFT + F10 keys to open Command Prompt.
- At the Command Prompt, run the following commands:
d:
cd Windows\System32
ren Utilman.exe Utilman.exe.original
copy cmd.exe Utilman.exe
shutdown -r -t 0
- The server should now reboot and present the logon screen. Press Windows Key + U or click the Ease of Access button, Command Prompt will pop up and type:
net user Administrator P@ssword123
This will set the password for the Administrator to be P@ssword123 (case sensitive).
- Close the Command Prompt and you should now be able to log back onto Windows Server 2016 using the password you have provided in the previous step. After logging in, browse to the directory C:\Windows\System32, delete Utilman.exe and rename Utilman.exe.original back to Utilman.exe.