Depending on the machine and user involved, losing a password for an account can be anything from a pain to a disaster. Fortunately, in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP there's something you can do to prepare for such an eventuality: create a password reset disk.
In Windows Server 2003 you can create a password reset disk for any local user account on a member server (a nondomain controller in a domain) or stand-alone server (a server in a workgroup). You can't create a password reset disk for a domain controller because a domain controller doesn't have any local user accounts, only domain accounts stored in Active Directory.
A typical use for a password reset disk would be to create one for the all-powerful local Administrator account on your server. To do this, get a blank formatted floppy and follow these steps:
Microsoft recommends that users should create a password reset disk when they create their passwords so that they will not lose access to their files and other information.The password reset disk can be created with many removable media, including USB flash drives, CD’s and DVD’s and floppy disks.
The action is initiated in the user accounts panel, where the user clicks on the “Create a password reset disk” option. This opens the Forgotten Password Wizard which prompts the user to insert the media, and creates the disk.
No matter how many times the user changes their password they only need to create the password reset disk only once.
