Change the Windows Administrator password for your Amazon EC2 instance
If you launch your instance from an AWS Windows AMI, the launch agents that are pre-installed set the default password as follows:
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For Windows Server 2022 and later, EC2Launch v2 generates the default password.
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For Windows Server 2016 and 2019, the EC2Launch agent generates the default password.
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For Windows Server 2012 R2 and earlier, the EC2Config service generates the default password.
Note
For Windows Server 2016 and later AMIs, Password never expires is disabled
for the local administrator. For AMI versions prior to Windows Server 2016,
Password never expires is enabled for the local administrator.
Change the Administrator password after connecting
When you connect to an instance the first time, we recommend that you change the Administrator password from its default value. Use the following procedure to change the Administrator password for a Windows instance.
Important
Store the new password in a safe place. You won't be able to retrieve the new password using the Amazon EC2 console. The console can only retrieve the default password. If you attempt to connect to the instance using the default password after changing it, you'll get a "Your credentials did not work" error.
To change the local Administrator password
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Connect to the instance and open a command prompt.
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Run the following command. If your new password includes special characters, enclose the password in double quotes.
net user Administrator "new_password" -
Store the new password in a safe place.
Change a lost or expired password
If you lose your password or it expires, you can generate a new password. For password reset procedures, see Reset the Windows administrator password for an Amazon EC2 Windows instance.
