Resetting a Simple AD user password - Amazon Directory Service
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Resetting a Simple AD user password

Users must adhere to password policies as defined in the Active Directory. Sometimes this can get the best of users, including the Active Directory administrator, and they forget their password. When this happens, you can quickly reset the user's password using Amazon Directory Service if the user resides in Simple AD.

You must be signed in as a user with the necessary permissions to reset passwords. For more information about permissions, see Overview of managing access permissions to your Amazon Directory Service resources.

You can reset the password for any user in your Active Directory with the following exceptions:

  • You can reset the password for any user within the Organizational Unit (OU) that is based off of the NetBIOS name you used when you created your Active Directory. For example, if you followed the procedure in Create your Simple AD, your NetBIOS name would be CORP and the users passwords you could reset would be members of Corp/Users OU.

  • You cannot reset the password of any user outside of the OU that is based off the NetBIOS name you used when you created your Active Directory. For more information about the OU structure for Simple AD, see What gets created with your Simple AD.

  • You cannot reset the password for any user that is a member of two domains. You also cannot reset the password of any user that is a member of either the Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins group except for the Administrator user.

  • You cannot reset the password for any user that is a member of either the Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins group except for the administrator user.

You can use any of the following methods to reset a user password:

  • Amazon Web Services Management Console

  • Amazon CLI

Amazon Web Services Management Console

  1. In the Amazon Directory Service console navigation pane, under Active Directory, choose Directories, and then select the Active Directory in the list where you want to reset a user password.

  2. On the Directory details page, choose Actions, and then choose Reset user password.

  3. In the Reset user password dialog, in Username type the username of the user whose password needs to change.

  4. Type a password in New password and Confirm password, and then choose Reset password.

Amazon CLI

  1. To install the Amazon CLI, see Install or update the latest version of the Amazon CLI.

  2. Open the Amazon CLI.

  3. Type the following command and replace the Directory ID, username jane.doe, and password P@ssw0rd with your Active Directory Directory ID and desired credentials. See reset-user-password in the Amazon CLI Command Reference for more information.

aws ds reset-user-password --directory-id d-1234567890 --user-name "jane.doe" --new-password "P@ssw0rd"