Microsoft KB Archive/305813

= How to change the Cluster service account password =

Article ID: 305813

Article Last Modified on 3/2/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)

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This article was previously published under Q305813



SUMMARY
In Windows Clustering for Windows Server 2003, you can change the Cluster service account password on the domain as well as on each local node without having to take the cluster offline. If multiple clusters use the same Cluster service account, you can change them simultaneously. In Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Microsoft Windows 2000, to change the Cluster service account password, you have to stop the Cluster service on all nodes before you can make the password change.

To change the password for a Cluster service account in a Windows Server 2003 cluster, the following requirements must be met:
 * Mixed clusters with Windows 2000 are not supported; All nodes must be running Windows Server 2003 or later.
 * All nodes must be using the same domain account for the Cluster service.
 * All nodes must be online or in a paused state.
 * The update mechanism is not transactional; If the password change is not completed on all nodes, there may be a partial downtime in getting the passwords updated.
 * You must be logged on to an account that has domain access to change the Cluster service account password on the domain controller. You must have local administrator rights to each node to change the Local Service account passwords. This account must also have the ability to traverse directories in the cluster domain. (Note: This privilege is given to every user in the domain by default.)
 * This article applies only to the changing of the Cluster service account. If other services are running under the same Cluster service account, you have to change them manually.



Changing the Cluster service account password
To change the Cluster service account password with Cluster.exe, type the following command from a command prompt to list all of the available parameters:

CLUSTER /changepass /?

Samples
Note: In the following samples:
 * EASTCLUSTER is a cluster name.
 * WESTCLUSTER is a cluster name.
 * is the new password.
 * is the old password.

To change the Cluster service account password for a single cluster, use the following syntax in which the password for EASTCLUSTER would be changed to  from  :

cluster /cluster:EASTCLUSTER /changepassword:, 

Note: If you do not specify  and , you are prompted to enter them after you press ENTER.

To change the Cluster service account password on multiple clusters, you need to reference the additional cluster. For example, to change the password for WESTCLUSTER in addition to EASTCLUSTER, you would use the following syntax:

cluster /cluster:EASTCLUSTER,WESTCLUSTER /changepassword:, 

When you use some special characters for the password, you may receive an error that is a bit misleading. For example, when you change the password by using the cluster /cluster:testcluster /changepass:Password&1234567890,Password1 command, you receive the following error message:

The password does not meet the password policy requirements. Check the minimum password length, password complexity and password history requirements. '1234567890' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file.

The special character &quot;&&quot; is truncating the rest of the line. This means that the first error is true because you are changing the password to only &quot;Password&quot; which does not follow the password restrictions correctly. Because the &quot;&&quot; is an old MSDOS command that combined commands together, it is trying to run the command &quot;1234567890&quot; which is invalid. The correct command to change the password for this must have the password enclosed in quotation marks. The following command will change the password correctly:

cluster /cluster:testcluster /changepass:&quot;Password&1234567890&quot;,Password1

Using additional switches
You can also use the following additional switches with the /changepassword parameter:

Troubleshooting
The following table lists all the errors and possible solutions that may occur when using Cluster.exe if there is a problem changing the password for the Cluster service account on the nodes or domain.



For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

827486 You receive an &quot;Either the specified account is not valid or the account's domain could not be contacted&quot; error message when you try to add a node to a server cluster in Windows 2000

Additional query words: mscs

Keywords: kbclustering kbhowto KB305813

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