Active Directory Cookbook

8.7. Resetting a Computer

Problem

You want to reset a computer because its secure channel is failing.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

2. If you need to change domains, right-click on Active Directory Users and Computers in the left pane, select Connect to Domain, enter the domain name, and click OK.

3. In the left pane, right-click on the domain and select Find.

4. Beside Find, select Computers.

5. Type the name of the computer and click Find Now.

6. In the Search Results, right-click on the computer and select Reset Account.

7. Click Yes to verify.

8. Click OK.

9. Rejoin computer to the domain.

Using a command-line interface

You can use the dsmod utility to reset a computer’s password. You will need to rejoin the computer to the domain after doing this.

> dsmod computer  "<ComputerDN>" -reset

Another option is to use the netdom command, which can reset the computer so that you do not need to rejoin it to the domain:

> netdom reset <ComputerName> /Domain <DomainName> /UserO <UserUPN> /PasswordO *

Using VBScript

' This resets an existing computer object's password to initial default.
' You'll need to rejoin the computer after doing this.
set objComputer = GetObject("LDAP://<ComputerDN>")
objComputer.SetPassword "<ComputerName>"

Discussion

When you’ve identified that a computer’s secure channel has failed, you’ll need to reset the computer, which consists of setting the computer object password to the name of the computer. This is the default initial password ...