Reset a Computer Account's Active Directory Password from the Command Line

Q: How can I reset a Windows computer account's Active Directory password from the command line?

A: To reset a computer account's Active Directory (AD) password from the command line, you can use Windows PowerShell or Netdom.exe. To reset the computer password on your local machine using PowerShell, you must use the Reset-ComputerMachinePassword cmdlet. The syntax of this cmdlet is described in detail in TechNet's Reset-ComputerMachinePassword web page.

Netdom.exe is a command-line tool that's built into Windows Server OSs starting with Windows Server 2008. It's available if you have the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) server role installed. It's also available if you install the Active Directory Domain Services Tools, which are part of the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). To reset the password using Netdom.exe, you must use the resetpwd switch as follows:

Netdom resetpwd

The Netdom command syntax is explained in greater detail in TechNet's Netdom resetpwd web page and in the Microsoft Support article "How to use Netdom.exe to reset machine account passwords of a Windows Server domain controller."