Reset Windows admin password for EC2 instance using EC2Launch - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Step 1: Detach the root volume from the instanceStep 2: Attach the volume to a temporary instanceStep 3: Reset the administrator passwordStep 4: Restart the original instance

Reset Windows admin password for EC2 instance using EC2Launch

If you have lost your Windows administrator password and are using a Windows Server 2016 or later AMI, you can use the EC2Rescue tool, which uses the EC2Launch service to generate a new password.

If you are using a Windows Server 2016 or later AMI that does not include the EC2Launch v2 agent, you can use EC2Launch v2 to generate a new password.

If you are using a Windows Server AMI earlier than Windows Server 2016, see Reset Windows admin password for EC2 instance using EC2Config.

Warning

When you stop an instance, the data on any instance store volumes is erased. To keep data from instance store volumes, be sure to back it up to persistent storage.

Note

If you have disabled the local administrator account on the instance and your instance is configured for Systems Manager, you can also re-enable and reset your local administrator password by using EC2Rescue and Run Command. For more information, see Use EC2Rescue for Windows Server with Systems Manager Run Command.

Note

There is an AWS Systems Manager Automation document that automatically applies the manual steps necessary to reset the local administrator password. For more information, see Reset passwords and SSH keys on EC2 instances in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide.

To reset your Windows administrator password using EC2Launch, you need to do the following:

Step 1: Detach the root volume from the instance

You can't use EC2Launch to reset an administrator password if the volume on which the password is stored is attached to an instance as the root volume. You must detach the volume from the original instance before you can attach it to a temporary instance as a secondary volume.

To detach the root volume from the instance

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.

  3. Select the instance that requires a password reset and choose Instance state, Stop instance. After the status of the instance changes to Stopped, continue with the next step.

  4. (Optional) If you have the private key that you specified when you launched this instance, continue with the next step. Otherwise, use the following steps to replace the instance with a new instance that you launch with a new key pair.

    1. Create a new key pair using the Amazon EC2 console. To give your new key pair the same name as the one for which you lost the private key, you must first delete the existing key pair.

    2. Select the instance to replace. Note the instance type, VPC, subnet, security group, and IAM role of the instance.

    3. With the instance selected, choose Actions, Image and templates, Create image. Type a name and a description for the image and choose Create image.

    4. In the navigation pane, choose AMIs. Wait for the image status to change to available. Then, select the image and choose Launch instance from AMI.

    5. Complete the fields to launch an instance, making sure to select the same instance type, VPC, subnet, security group, and IAM role as the instance to replace, and then choose Launch instance.

    6. When prompted, choose the key pair that you created for the new instance, and then choose Launch instance.

    7. (Optional) If the original instance has an associated Elastic IP address, transfer it to the new instance. If the original instance has EBS volumes in addition to the root volume, transfer them to the new instance.

  5. Detach the root volume from the original instance as follows:

    1. Select the original instance and choose the Storage tab. Note the name of the root device under Root device name. Find the volume with this device name under Block devices, and note the volume ID.

    2. In the navigation pane, choose Volumes.

    3. In the list of volumes, select the volume that you noted as the root device, and choose Actions, Detach Volume. After the volume status changes to available, continue with the next step.

  6. If you created a new instance to replace your original instance, you can terminate the original instance now. It's no longer needed. For the remainder of this procedure, all references to the original instance apply to the new instance that you created.

Step 2: Attach the volume to a temporary instance

Next, launch a temporary instance and attach the volume to it as a secondary volume. This is the instance you use to run EC2Launch.

To launch a temporary instance and attach the volume

  1. Launch the temporary instance as follows:

    1. In the navigation pane, choose Instances, choose Launch instances, and then select an AMI.

      Important

      To avoid disk signature collisions, you must select an AMI for a different version of Windows. For example, if the original instance runs Windows Server 2019, launch the temporary instance using the base AMI for Windows Server 2016.

    2. Leave the default instance type and choose Next: Configure Instance Details.

    3. On the Configure Instance Details page, for Subnet, select the same Availability Zone as the original instance and choose Review and Launch.

      Important

      The temporary instance must be in the same Availability Zone as the original instance. If your temporary instance is in a different Availability Zone, you can't attach the original instance's root volume to it.

    4. On the Review Instance Launch page, choose Launch.

    5. When prompted, create a new key pair, download it to a safe location on your computer, and then choose Launch Instances.

  2. Attach the volume to the temporary instance as a secondary volume as follows:

    1. In the navigation pane, choose Volumes, select the volume that you detached from the original instance, and then choose Actions, Attach Volume.

    2. In the Attach Volume dialog box, for Instances, start typing the name or ID of your temporary instance and select the instance from the list.

    3. For Device, type xvdf (if it isn't already there), and choose Attach.

Step 3: Reset the administrator password

Next, connect to the temporary instance and use EC2Launch to reset the administrator password.

To reset the administrator password

  1. Connect to the temporary instance and use the EC2Rescue for Windows Server tool on the instance to reset the administrator password as follows:

    1. Download the EC2Rescue for Windows Server zip file, extract the contents, and run EC2Rescue.exe.

    2. On the License Agreement screen, read the license agreement, and, if you accept the terms, choose I Agree.

    3. On the Welcome to EC2Rescue for Windows Server screen, choose Next.

    4. On the Select mode screen, choose Offline instance.

    5. On the Select a disk screen, select the xvdf device and choose Next.

    6. Confirm the disk selection and choose Yes.

    7. After the volume has loaded, choose OK.

    8. On the Select Offline Instance Option screen, choose Diagnose and Rescue.

    9. On the Summary screen, review the information and choose Next.

    10. On the Detected possible issues screen, select Reset Administrator Password and choose Next.

    11. On the Confirm screen, choose Rescue, OK.

    12. On the Done screen, choose Finish.

    13. Close the EC2Rescue for Windows Server tool, disconnect from the temporary instance, and then return to the Amazon EC2 console.

  2. Detach the secondary (xvdf) volume from the temporary instance as follows:

    1. In the navigation pane, choose Instances and select the temporary instance.

    2. On the Storage tab for the temporary instance, note the ID of the EBS volume listed as xvdf.

    3. In the navigation pane, choose Volumes.

    4. In the list of volumes, select the volume noted in the previous step, and choose Actions, Detach Volume. After the volume status changes to available, continue with the next step.

Step 4: Restart the original instance

After you have reset the administrator password using EC2Launch, reattach the volume to the original instance as the root volume and connect to the instance using its key pair to retrieve the administrator password.

To restart the original instance

  1. Reattach the volume to the original instance as follows:

    1. In the navigation pane, choose Volumes, select the volume that you detached from the temporary instance, and then choose Actions, Attach Volume.

    2. In the Attach Volume dialog box, for Instances, start typing the name or ID of your original instance and then select the instance.

    3. For Device, type /dev/sda1.

    4. Choose Attach. After the volume status changes to in-use, continue to the next step.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Instances. Select the original instance and choose Instance state, Start instance. After the instance state changes to Running, continue to the next step.

  3. Retrieve your new Windows administrator password using the private key for the new key pair and connect to the instance. For more information, see Connect to your Windows instance using RDP.

  4. (Optional) If you have no further use for the temporary instance, you can terminate it. Select the temporary instance, and choose Instance State, Terminate instance.