10 ways to change password in Remote Desktop session

How to change your password in Remote Desktop? As a regular user of RDP sessions, you may have been confronted with the case of changing your password. But here’s the problem: Control-Alt-Delete (CTRL-ALT-DEL) doesn’t allow you to change the password in the remote session> Instead, it gives you the lock menu on your local computer.

Because of this, I’ve written down 10 ways to reset your password in Remote Desktop without using Ctrl alt delete.

Change password in Remote Desktop

There are many ways to change your password on a Windows client. When you’re working on your local computer, you may just hit CTRL-ALT-DEL. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work if you attempt to change a password in Remote Desktop. Hitting CTRL-ALT-DELETE will trigger your local computer to pop up the options Lock – Switch user – Sign out – Change a password – Task Manager.

CTRL-ALT-END

Sometimes (but not always), CTRL-ALT-END helps you “ctrl-alt-delete” the session to change your password in remote desktop sessions. CTRL-ALT-END is the equivalent to CTRL-ALT-DELETE in RDP. However, it depends on the OS version session settings whether this works or not.

On screen keyboard

The On Screen Keyboard (OSK) is a virtual keyboard on your screen. This works in Windows Server 2012 / Windows 7 and higher. To change your password in Remote Desktop with the OSK, follow these steps:

1. Click Start
2. Type osk and hit enter to open the on screen keyboard.
   If this doesn’t work, press Windows+R to open your Run Command window. Type osk and click OK
3. Press and Hold CTRL-ALT keys on your physical keyboard and then click on the DEL key in the virtual keyboard (on screen)
4. Minimize the OSK
5. Click Change a password.
   

Run the shell

You can directly launch the shell to get the Windows Security Options displayed. To do so, open the Run-box or open a command prompt and copy-paste:

C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f2-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

Note: this only works on Windows 10 and earlier. It’s not supported on Windows 11.

Run a VBS-script

This one is nice too. Copy-paste the lines below to a Notepad and save the file as securityoptions.vbs . Then open/run/execute the VBS. It will launch the Windows Security Options screen to change the password in Remote Desktop.

************************************
Set objShell = CreateObject(“Shell.Application”)
objShell.WindowsSecurity
***********************************

ALTGR-END

In case you have a keyboard with the ALTGR-key, you may also use ALTGR+END to simulate CTRL-ALT-DELETE. I believe German keyboards in particular have this key.

Reset your password in an RDP session

In contrast to changing a password, resetting a password does not require you to remember the current password. Instead, you just overwrite the existing password (if any) and set a new password.

Active Directory Users and Computers

When logged on to a computer that has active directory tools installed, you may use Active Directory Users and Computers to reset the password. You need user account privileges to do so, however.

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers from your start menu (or quicker: Start -> Run -> dsa.msc)
2. Localize the account (tip: at top level, right-click and choose Find… )
3. Right-click the account, and choose Reset Password…

Net user

Assuming it’s a local user (so NOT a domain user account), you can use net user to change a users’ password. To do so:

1. Click Start -> Run (or press Win+R)
2. Type something like “net user $username $password”. I.e. if the user account is named Peter, you could reset its password by typing: net user Peter P@55w0rd.

Powershell: Set-ADAccountPassword

In case of a domain user account, you may use the Set-ADAccountPassword cmdlet in Powershell. Note that the Active Directory module must be loaded.

Set-ADAccountPassword -Identity Peter -NewPassword (Read-Host -Prompt “Provide New Password” -AsSecureString) -Reset

Powershell: Set-LocalUser

In case of a local user, you may use the Set-LocalUser cmdlet in Powershell to reset a local users’ password

Get-LocalUser ‘Peter’ | Set-LocalUser -Password (Read-Host -Prompt “Provide New Password” -AsSecureString)

Quick wrap-up

There are different ways to change a password in Remote Desktop. I find the Onscreen Keyboard method the easiest because it’s universal and works in all Windows versions, including Windows 10, Windows Server 2022, and Windows 11. It also enables you to change a password, when you’re in a Remote Desktop session via a Remote Desktop session.

Nonetheless, here’s a small enumeration most used techniques:

Change password on Remote Desktop

1. CTRL-ALT-END

   

   Press CTRL-ALT-END to trigger the Lock menu where you change your password

2. On Screen Keyboard

   

   Click Start, type osk, and press Enter in the RDP session. This will open the Onscreen Keyboard where you can simulate the CTRL-ALT-DELETE keystroke

3. Run the Windows Security Options shell

   Open a command prompt (cmd) and enter C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f2-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}. This launches the shell to get the Windows Security Options. Only works on Windows 10 and earlier.

4. Run a VBS script

   Create a VBS file with the following content:
   Set objShell = CreateObject(“Shell.Application”)
   objShell.WindowsSecurity
   Opening the file then launches the shell to get the Windows Security Options. Only works on Windows 10 and earlier.

5. ALTGR-END

   Press ALTGR+END. Some keyboards, with i.e. German layout, have an ALTGR key. This simulates CTRL-ALT.

Tools:

• Windows 10
• Windows 11
• Remote Desktop session