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To change the Administrator password on Windows Server, press Ctrl+Alt+End in your Remote Desktop session, choose Change a password, and enter the old and new password. From an admin PowerShell window you can instead run Set-LocalUser -Name "Administrator" -Password (Read-Host -AsSecureString). Both work on Windows Server 2019, 2022 and 2025, and the new password applies at your next sign-in.

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Before you start

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How to change the password in a Remote Desktop session

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on your own computer goes to your own PC, not the server. In a Remote Desktop window, Ctrl+Alt+End opens the server’s Windows Security screen instead (Microsoft Learn).
1

Open Windows Security

Click inside the Remote Desktop window and press Ctrl+Alt+End.
2

Choose Change a password

Select Change a password. The account name is filled in for you.
3

Enter the passwords

Type the old password, then the new password twice, and press Enter.
4

Confirm

Windows confirms the change. Select OK to return to the Windows Security screen, then Cancel.
In the VNC console, use Send Ctrl + Alt + Del from the console toolbar to reach the same screen.

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How to change the Administrator password with PowerShell

Open PowerShell as administrator: select Start, type PowerShell, right-click Windows PowerShell and choose Run as administrator. Then run:
Read-Host -AsSecureString hides what you type, so the password doesn’t appear on screen or in your PowerShell history (Set-LocalUser on Microsoft Learn). Replace Administrator with another account name, such as alex, to change that user’s password. On Server Core, choose option 15 in SConfig to get to a PowerShell prompt first.

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How to change it with net user (Command Prompt)

The * makes Windows prompt for the new password and hide it as you type (net user on Microsoft Learn). Avoid typing the password directly after the user name, because it then appears on screen.

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How to check it worked

  1. Sign out of the server (don’t just close the window).
  2. Connect again with Remote Desktop and sign in with the new password.
  3. Update the password in any saved RDP connection and in your password manager.
To see when the password was last set:
PasswordLastSet shows today’s date and time.
Windows services or scheduled tasks that run as Administrator with a stored password keep using the old one and fail to start after the change. Open services.msc and Task Scheduler, look for anything that runs as Administrator and enter the new password there. Better: run services under their own account.

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What makes a good Administrator password?

  • Long: 16 or more characters. Length helps more than symbols.
  • Unique: never reused from another site or server.
  • Not the account name: Windows’ complexity rule rejects passwords that contain the user name (Microsoft Learn).
Remote Desktop on the internet gets constant password-guessing attempts, so a strong password matters more on a server than on a home PC. See protect RDP from brute-force attacks.

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Frequently asked questions

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Windows says the password doesn’t meet the policy requirements. What now?

Your server enforces a minimum length, complexity or password history. Choose a longer password that mixes upper case, lower case, numbers and symbols and that you haven’t used on this server before.

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Can I change the password if I forgot the current one?

Not from inside Windows without another administrator account. With a second admin account, run the Set-LocalUser command above while signed in as that user. On a VPS, Reset Password in the VPS Panel sets a new Administrator password and emails it to you.

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Should I rename or disable the Administrator account?

Renaming it (Rename-LocalUser -Name "Administrator" -NewName "srvadmin") makes guessing harder. Create and test a second administrator account first, so you can’t lock yourself out. See add a Remote Desktop user.

VPS and dedicated server guides

Every guide in this section.

Add a Remote Desktop user

Create a second account for RDP.

Protect RDP from brute force

Lockout policy and IP limits.

Fix a locked-out account

When too many wrong passwords block sign-in.

Reset the password in the VPS Panel

When you no longer know it.
Checked against Microsoft Learn: Set-LocalUser, net user and Remote Desktop shortcut keys on 4 November 2026. Not tested on a live Windows server for this page; dialog wording can differ slightly between Windows Server 2019, 2022 and 2025.

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Last Updated: November 2026