Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions,
see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China
(PDF).
Change the password for the Amazon Web Services account root user
You can change the email address and password from either the Security Credentials or the
Account page. You can also choose Forgot password?
on the Amazon sign-in page to reset your password.
To change the root user's password, you must sign in as the Amazon Web Services account root user and not as an IAM
user. To learn how to reset a forgotten root user password,
see Reset a lost or forgotten root user password.
To protect your password, it's important to follow these best practices:
-
Change your password periodically.
-
Keep your password private because anyone who knows your password can access your
account.
-
Use a different password on Amazon than you use on other sites.
-
Avoid passwords that are easy to guess. These include passwords such as
secret
, password
, amazon
, or 123456
.
Also avoid things like dictionary words, your name, email address, or other personal
information that someone can easily obtain.
Amazon Web Services accounts managed using Amazon Organizations may have centralized root access enabled for member
accounts. These member accounts do not have root user credentials, can't sign in as a root user,
and are prevented from recovering the root user password. Contact your administrator if you
need to perform a task that requires root user credentials.
- Amazon Web Services Management Console
-
To change the password for the root user
To perform the following steps, you must have at least the following IAM permissions:
-
Open the Amazon Management Console and sign in using your root user credentials.
For instructions, see Sign
in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console as the root user in the Amazon Sign-In User
Guide.
-
In the upper right corner of the console, choose your account name or number,
and then select Security Credentials.
-
On the Account page, next to Account
settings, choose Edit. You are prompted to
re-authenticate for security purposes.
If you don't see the Edit option, it is likely that you
are not signed in as the root user for your account. You can't modify account
settings while signed in as an IAM user or role.
-
On the Update account settings page, under
Password, choose Edit.
-
On the Update your password page, fill out the fields for
Current password, New password, and
Confirm new password.
Make sure to choose a strong password. Although you can set an account
password policy for IAM users, that policy doesn't apply to the root user.
Amazon requires that your password meet the following conditions:
-
It must have a minimum of 8 characters and a maximum of 128
characters.
-
It must include a minimum of three of the following mix of character types:
uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and ! @ # $ % ^ & * () <> [] {} | _+-=
symbols.
-
It must not be identical to your Amazon Web Services account name or email address.
-
Choose Save changes.
- Amazon CLI or Amazon SDK
-
This task isn't supported in the Amazon CLI or by an API operation from one of the
Amazon SDKs. You can perform this task only by using the Amazon Web Services Management Console.