Anyone else having trouble resetting the VM password?

Pflipper 96

Password expired and trying to change through the Azure menu. Does not work. Is it supposed to? Password meets all the requirements.

2 answers

Praveen Prabhakaran 546 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-12-15T02:26:22.467+00:00

@Pflipper

VM reset password fails for different reasons. one of the main reason is the VM agent, could you please check if the VM agent is up and running for the VM??

if the agent is running you can also use the run commands to reset the password. (assuming its a windows VM)

reset password:
net user adambertram P@ssw0rd1

Add new user:
net user <username> <newpassword> /add /Y
net localgroup administrators <username> /add

even if this doesn't work and the VM is in a un usable state we may need to follow the offline password reset approach.
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Pflipper 96 Reputation points

2021-12-15T05:24:19.657+00:00

The VM Agent was probably running. I don't know now...that need has passed as I had to connect to the VM via RDP and change the password there, which is a pain, because I have long passwords with strong passwords in mind.

I don't need to add a new user - ?

Your suggested answer misses the point...there is functionality on the Azure site, supposedly used to maintain your VM, that is not working or does not work. Why have it then? If it is on the Azure site, but does not do what it is supposed to - either fix it or remove it.

Is there a way to communicate this request to fix the product to the Azure developers?

KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 19,032 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-12-15T19:59:36.67+00:00

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I am trying to reproduce this behavior on Azure portal and will get back to you.

In the meanwhile, just wanted to share that if VM agent is the reason behind the update failing, as mentioned by Praveen in the reply above, then you should see the following warning on top:

Pflipper 96 Reputation points

2021-12-15T20:17:37.947+00:00

I never saw such a message when attempting to reset the password for the VM in Azure. When I RDP'd into the VM at a later time (when looking at Praveen's suggestion), I saw in the Task Manager, Details that WindowsAzureGuestAgent.exe was running. I can only assume is was running when I attempted to change the password through Azure when I attempted to the first time.

I look forward to seeing your progress on this issue with Azure VM functionality.
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KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 19,032 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-12-16T20:07:34.443+00:00
Apologies for the inconvenience caused. I reproduced the scenario and observed the following.

First time I tried to reset the password, I got the same error message as you - "Update failed." and "Failed to Reset Password" in the Notifications tab.

I went to the VM resource -> Settings -> Extensions + Applications -> enablevmaccessa -> clicked on it and checked the detailed error message.

The error message says - "The password does not meet the password policy requirements. Check the minimum password length, password complexity and password history requirements"

I tried resetting the password again. This time I made sure the password contains 1 uppercase character, 1 lowercase character , 1 number, 1 special character, is between 12 -123 characters long and it is not similar to previous passwords for that VM

Checked the Notifications tab and it said "Successfully reset password"

Checked the detailed error message under VM resource -> Settings -> Extensions + Applications -> enablevmaccessa and it has status as Provisioning succeeded.

Based on the above repro and my observations, I think the update failed in your case because of Password policy requirements. Please give the 'Reset Password' functionality on Azure portal another try, following all password requirements as stated above and let me know the results. If you are still seeing this issue, I will further investigate this, get on a call with you or involve the product team as needed.
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Pflipper 96 Reputation points

2021-12-16T20:46:14.19+00:00

I use LastPass to generate passwords, so I know that when I had the issue the password was a strong password and met all the requirements you mention.

I tried this again to see if I could recreate the issue. Again, I used the VM menu path to reset the password, used a 20 character password that met all the requirements, and received an "Update Failed". I looked at the area you referenced here - extensions and applications - then looked at the output for "enablevmaccess". The Status Message for me shows the following :

VMAccess Extension does not support Domain Controller.

So, taking a quick look into the issue on the web, I get solutions that reference running custom scripts or using PowerShell scripts to reset the password.

This takes me back to my previous assertion - if the menu area in Azure is not working or does not work, then why have it? If it is on the Azure site, but does not do what it is supposed to - either fix it or remove it. Or specify that for a DC, the reset will not work. Or better yet - determine that my VM is a DC through Azure and just don't give reset password as an option. Or, best of all, fix it so that I CAN reset my password, and manage all other aspects of my VM, through the Azure portal.

Interested to hear any other takes.

But

KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 19,032 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-12-22T12:59:11.677+00:00

i understand your concern about the inability to use the Azure portal feature. I further investigated and via internal resources I found that 'For a DC, the reset is not supported using the normal VM Reset Password option from the Azure Portal.'

And the recommendation was to achieve it using one of the following alternatives. I am confirming with the Product team if the above condition is documented in Microsoft official documentation to ensure customers are aware of this. I will get back to you on this. Thanks for your patience.

KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 19,032 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-12-22T13:01:00.807+00:00

Sharing the alternative solutions here as the limit for the comment exceeded in the first one.

Solution 1: Use the “Run Command” option from the Azure Portal

Login to the Azure Portal and navigate to the Virtual Machine that is the Domain Controller

Under Operations you will have an option called “Run Command”

Once into the “Run Command” option please select “RunPowerShellScript”

In the new pane that appears you can type net user [Username] [Password] without the brackets and replacing the default values with your own, and click Run

Solution 2: Use the “Custom Script Extension” from the Azure portal

Open a new notepad window.

Write: net user [Username] [Password] without the brackets and replacing the default values with your own.

Save it as script.ps1

Once you created the script you need, the next step is to execute it in the Virtual Machine. To do that, login to the Azure Portal and navigate to the Virtual Machine that is the Domain Controller. In the Extensions section click on the Add button to add a new extension.

Select Custom Script Extension option from the list

Select Create

Upload the script.ps1 file

Select Ok

Pflipper 96 Reputation points

2021-12-22T15:47:25.447+00:00

I don't know how many times I have to reiterate this point for Microsoft - if the menu area in Azure is not working or does not work, then why have it? If it is on the Azure site, but does not do what it is supposed to - either fix it or remove it. Having a button that does not work, yet a powershell script that does, makes no sense. Take the extra time and effort (Microsoft is making billions of dollars and can hire a few extra developers, right) and, get this novel idea -- > make the button do the powershell script !
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Anyone else having trouble resetting the VM password?

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