what to do if i accidentally reset the computer account

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A reboot should work, since resetting the computer account password should set it to "Computername$". This is the default tried by computers that fail authentication.

Another quick fix is to remove and re-add it to the domain.

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Aaron Anodide
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Aaron Anodide

My history of programming goes back to the TI-99, Atari 800 and Apple II. I attended Rutgers U. (1994-2000), started in engineering but landed in computer science. I've been working as a computer programmer since 1998. Since 2000 I've been mainly a C# programmer. The past 3 years I've been doing line of business application development, which I very much enjoy. I like education very much which is why I enjoy this site and the ideas behind it. Collaborative learning is one of the most exciting thing about the internet to me. I'm jealous of good technical writers. My dream job is to one day work on cutting edge educational software.

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

  • Aaron Anodide
    Aaron Anodide about 1 year

    I'm not the domain admin, but I thought I could handle a simple task, and apparently I thought wrong, how I need assistance.

    A computer was locked and we needed to login to shutdown a program that was locking a file.

    I have done this before: I open active directory, and reset their password.

    However, I reset their computer account instead.

    enter image description here

    I went ahead and reset the password, but when I enter it (Windows XP desktop/Server R2 domain) I get a message saying the account is not available (makes sense, I just don't know how to fix it).

    Any help is greatly appreciated. I have admin access..

  • maweeras
    maweeras over 12 years
    If you reset the computer account, you break the secure channel. Reboot wont work. But disjoin/rejoin will.