Windows 2003 rename administrator account

Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support. This security policy reference topic for the IT professional describes the best practices, location, values, and security considerations for this policy setting.

The Accounts: Rename administrator account policy setting determines whether a different account name is associated with the security identifier SID for the Administrator account. Because the Administrator account exists on all Windows server versions, renaming the account makes it slightly more difficult for attackers to guess this user name and password combination. By default, the built-in Administrator account cannot be locked out no matter how many times a malicious user might use a bad password.

This makes the Administrator account a popular target for brute-force password-guessing attacks. The value of this countermeasure is lessened because this account has a well-known SID and there are non-Microsoft tools that allow you to initiate a brute-force attack over the network by specifying the SID rather than the account name. This means that even if you have renamed the Administrator account, a malicious user could start a brute-force attack by using the SID.

This may be useful if you want to change the name of the administrator or guest user accounts to minimize the chance of misuse of these accounts. If you try to reverse the changes to the administrator or guest account names by clearing the Define this policy setting check box in the Rename guest account or Rename administrator account dialog boxes, you may not be able to log on to the domain by using the default account names.

To resolve this issue, use Group Policy to restore the default account names, and then clear the Define this policy setting check box:. The primary domain controller PDC emulator operations master in the forest root domain is the authoritative time source for the organization. First the PDC emulator is configured to use an external stratum 2 time server. The default NTP time server is configured to use time.

All PDC operation masters in other domains in the forest follow the hierarchy of domains when selecting a PDC emulator to synchronize their times. For example, child domains will synchronize with the domain above them in the domain hierarchy.

This prevents users seeing the account that previously used the machine. Secondly I showed theadministrators how to set up auditing; then we could see whichworkstations the rogue passwords were coming from. Amateurs will almost certainly have a blank Audit log. Tip: For the Boss. If I was the boss I would have a meetingwith my network manager and ask to see the security log options. If the network manager is honourable then they willhave nothing to fear.

If they are a rogue, then okay they canget around it by deleting the log, but that in itself would besuspicious. Kiwi CatTools is a free program for backing up configuration settings on hardware devices. If you download CatTools , then it will not only take care of backups, but also it will show you something new about the hardware on you network. I could give you a money back guarantee — but CatTools is already free! Thus, I just make a techie to techie challenge, you will learn more about your network if you:.