Domain Password Reset

1. Use the Astrami CD to reset the MACHINE Administrator password to "no password".

2. Reboot, hit F8, and enter "Directory Service Recovery Mode". The machine will boot up as a standalone server
without any Active Directory support.

3. When the login screen appears, hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and log in as "Administrator" with no password. This is the
MACHINE Administrator account, and does not have the ability to modify anything specific involving the
Active Directory information, although it can backup and restore the physical files which contain the AD databases.

4. Run "REGEDIT.EXE" (without the quotes). Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop

*** Lamer note: Make sure you write down the default values BEFORE changing them.
You could also just PRINT SCREEN your registry editor display.
The best option is to just backup the values to a .REG file by selecting the
DESKTOP key and then selecting EXPORT from the FILE menu.

After you made sure you know what the default values are, change the following values:

SCRNSAVE.EXE - change from logon.scr to cmd.exe

ScreenSaveTimeout - change from 900 to 15

ScreenSaveActive - change to 1 (if it wasn't 1 already)

5. Reboot normally. When the box appears asking you to hit CTRL-ALT-DEL to log in, just wait.

After 15-30 seconds you will see a command prompt appear (since that is the screensaver).

6. In the command prompt, type the following command: MMC DSA.MSC

*** Lamer note: There is a space character between the "mmc" and the "dsa.msc".
Also, note that the DSA.MSC file is usually located in the SYSTEM32 subfolder
of your WINDOWS or WINNT folder.

**** More lamer notes: DSA.MSC is actually the executable name for Active Directory Users and Computers,
which in turn is the main tool for managing users, groups and computers in Windows 2000 Active Directory.

This should bring up the management console where you can edit users' passwords,
including the password for the Administrator account.

7. After resetting the Administrator password, exit the management console and type the command EXIT in the command prompt window.

8. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and log into the DOMAIN Administrator account using the new password!

9. Don't forget to restore the changes you made to the registry in step 4.

Edited by Joseph Dix, not responsible for any damage, use at your own risk.