Use-case 25: When And How To Reset Computer Account Password In Your Active Directory

Just like user accounts, computer accounts also have passwords in the Active Directory. This password allows them to constantly communicate with the Domain Controllers, through the security channel. Information pertaining to computer account, group membership, etc. are exchanged through this secure channel. The password is changed without any user intervention once in 30 days by default, just to keep the passage secure.

If the computer loses it's connectivity with the DC, owing to a few reasons like a long inactive/disabled period, out of sync, etc. This would cause a "password mismatch". Hence when the user tries to login through his computer, an error message like "Trust relationship between the computer and primary domain failed" appears, indicating the issue is not relative to the user's credentials. This affects productivity as the employee may not be able to access his/her resources.

A simple effective way to re-establish contact with the DC and resolve the issue is to reset the password of the computer account. By resetting the password of the computer account, the computer will touch base with the DC --> re-join the domain --> synchronize data with the DC. ADManager Plus will be nifty in bulk computer account password reset when such scenarios exist.

Step 1 : Kindly go to AD Mgmt --> Computer Management --> Bulk Computer Modification --> Reset Computers .

Step 2 : Now, to specify the computers you can,

a. Import a simple CSV file with the n ame of the computers. The computers will be matched and displayed. You can then click on Check All and Apply this change.

b. Click on search and it will give you all the computers in your domain. You can handpick and apply this change.

c. If all the computers belong to an OU( let's say disabled/inactive computers OU ) , you can choose the OU on Add OUs and hit Search . All computers from that OU would appear. You can then click on Check All and Apply this change.