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PsPasswd v1.25

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By Mark Russinovich

Published: March 30, 2023

Download Download PsTools (5 MB)

Introduction

Systems administrators that manage local administrative accounts on multiple computers regularly need to change the account password as part of standard security practices. PsPasswd is a tool that lets you change an account password on the local or remote systems, enabling administrators to create batch files that run PsPasswd against the computers they manage in order to perform a mass change of the administrator password.

PsPasswd uses Windows password reset APIs, so does not send passwords over the network in the clear.

Installation

Just copy PsPasswd onto your executable path, and type "pspasswd" with the command-line syntax shown below..

Using PsPasswd

You can use PsPasswd to change the password of a local or domain account on the local or a remote computer.

usage: pspasswd [[\\computer[,computer[,..] | @file [-u user [-p psswd]]] Username [NewPassword]

Parameter Description
computer Perform the command on the remote computer or computers specified. If you omit the computer name the command runs on the local system, and if you specify a wildcard (\\*), the command runs on all computers in the current domain.
@file Run the command on each computer listed in the text file specified.
-u Specifies optional user name for login to remote computer.
-p Specifies optional password for user name. If you omit this you will be prompted to enter a hidden password.
Username Specifies name of account for password change.
NewPassword New password. If omitted a NULL password is applied.

Download Download PsTools (5 MB)

PsTools
PsPasswd is part of a growing kit of Sysinternals command-line tools that aid in the administration of local and remote systems named PsTools.

Runs on:

  • Client: Windows 8.1 and higher.
  • Server: Windows Server 2012 and higher.