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| Know the key to changing Administrator passwords |
| When you install Windows 2000 Server, you have to enter the password for your Administrator |
| account. This password becomes the password for your local Administrator account, which saves in |
| the registry's Security Accounts Manager (SAM). |
| Later, when you install Active Directory (AD) on that machine and promote the computer to a |
| domain controller (DC), this deletes the local database (SAM) and replaces it with AD. All your |
| existing user accounts and groups are migrated to AD. If this is the first DC in the domain, you still |
| have the same Administrator password. |
| During promotion to DC, you're also asked to enter a password for the Directory Services Restore |
| Mode. This is when a new, so-called offline SAM database is created with a special Administrator |
| account and the password you specify. You use this Administrator account when you log on to the |
| Directory Services Restore Mode, which is when AD isn't running. |
| These two Administrative accounts aren't completely separate. If you want to change the Directory |
| Services Restore Mode account, log on to the Directory Services Restore Mode and change the |
| password. Also, each DC can have a different Directory Services Restore Mode password. |
| When you decide to remove AD from this DC, you'll be prompted to create a new Administrator |
| password, which will be stored in the SAM. Also note that you'll lose all of your AD accounts. |
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