Hello Stroller,
I have another opinion as the previous posters, it is possible to restore,
not the way you described with registry editing etc.
BUT the administrative effort and the effect if something goes wrong it is
not worth it. Also some other changes maybe will be effected.
The easiest way is to go to the user, check it together with her or change
the password and give her an info about it and hand out a new password.
Here is a way:
You have to use a systemstate backup of one DC, all DC's have to be in sync,
which has the the CURRENT user password stored, so not an old systemstate
backup. Then you can change the password and do your work.
Then delete the user account from the user, wait/check for replication to
all DC's and restore the user account fro the ststemstate backup.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840001
Best regards
Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
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> Hi there,
>
> One of a client's staff has a problem with Outlook. The office is on a
> domain using Windows 2003 SBS.
>
> I'd like to use RDC to logon to her machine as her user and see what's
> up. I don't know her password, but as a domain administrator I can
> change it (in Server Management > Users, then right-click).
>
> But if I change her password it means that I have to get her new
> password to her by 9am on Monday, and I'd just prefer not to have to
> give it to one of the other staff. I mean, of course I can force her
> to change it again afterwards, but it's bugging me thinking that there
> must be an alternative.
>
> In Linux I can copy the hash of the password out of /etc/shadow (or
> just copy the whole file), change the password then do my work before
> copying it back again.
>
> Is it possible to do the same thing on a Windows domain controller,
> please?
>
> I don't really want to back up & restore the whole registry, but it
> seems to
> me that I ought to be able to search the appropriate part of the
> registry
> (using regedit) for the username and there should be a key nearby for
> the
> user's password. The password will be hashed, but I can copy it to a
> textfile, change the user's password in Server Management and then
> change
> it back after I've finished my work by copying from the textfile to
> the
> registry. This should restore her password to what it was originally,
> and
> then she can log on normally using her original password with no
> disruption.
> Anyone done this? Or see any problems?
>
> What is the registry key that holds the hashed user password, please?
>
> My Google-Fu isn't good enough to find if this technique is
> documented.
>
> Thanks in advance for any pointers,
>
> Stroller.
>
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