Change the Administrator Password

You can use these procedures to change the password for the Administrator account on the local computer running Windows Server® 2008, Windows Vista®, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.

Procedures for changing Administrator passwords

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This topic provides procedures to change the Administrator password on computers running the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2008
  
• Windows Vista
  
• Windows Server 2003
  
• Windows XP
  

Windows Server 2008

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Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to perform this procedure.

To change the Administrator password in Windows Server 2008

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1. Log on to the computer using the Administrator account.
2. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click User Accounts.
3. In User Accounts, in Make changes to your user account, click Change your password.
4. In Change your password, in Current Password, type your password.
5. In New password, type a new password.
6. In Confirm new password, retype the password.
7. In Type a password hint, type a word or phrase that will remind you of your password or, optionally, leave this field blank.
8. Click Change password.

Windows Vista

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Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to perform this procedure.

To change the Administrator password in Windows Vista

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1. Log on to the computer using the Administrator account.
2. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.
3. In User Accounts, click Add or remove user accounts. The User Account Control dialog box opens, and requests your permission to continue. Click Continue.
4. In Choose the account you would like to change, select the account you want to change, and then click Create a password.
   

   Note
   If you have previously created a password for the account, the text that appears in this step is Change the password.

5. If Current password is displayed, in Current password, type the password that you used when you logged on to the computer.
6. In New password, type a new password.
7. In Confirm new password, retype the password.
8. In Type a password hint, type a word or phrase that will remind you of your password or, optionally, leave this field blank.
9. Click Create password or Change password.
   

   Note
   If this is the first time you have created a password for the Administrator account, the text that appears in the last step is Create password. If you previously created a password and are changing that password to a new one, the text that appears in the last step is Change password.

Windows Server 2003

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Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to perform this procedure.

To change the Administrator password in Windows Server 2003

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1. Log on to the computer using the Administrator account.
2. Click Start, right-click Administrative Tools, and then click Open. Administrative Tools opens.
3. Double-click Computer Management, click Local Users and Groups, and in the details pane, double-click Users. The Users folder opens.
4. In the details pane, right-click the account that you want to change, and click Set Password. A warning dialog box opens. Read the information to determine whether you want to proceed with the step to change the password.
5. In New Password, type a password. In Confirm password, retype the password, and then click OK.

Windows XP

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Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to perform this procedure.

To change the Administrator password in Windows XP

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1. Log on to the computer using the Administrator account.
2. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click User Accounts. The User Accounts dialog box opens.
3. In User Name, select the account that you want to change, and then click Reset Password. In New password, type a new password, and in Confirm new password, retype the password, and then click OK.