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I need a user friendly way for non-technical people to reset another persons password in Active Directory.

The use case for this is a school where the lab supervisors need the ability to reset a students password without involoving the already overburdened IT staff.

The requirements:
- I can't have them going into AD Users and Computers or using a command line.
- If the username is entered by selecting from a list, it should only list users in a subset of OUs, and the OU configuration should not be visible to the end user.

Is there a tool like this that exists.

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Could I ask why you're ruling out ADUC? If you grant only the necessary permissions on AD objects/attributes, they won't be able to do any damage and it's a pretty simple, straight-forward interface. – ErikA Aug 23 '10 at 2:56
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@ErikA We tried ADUC. It's a simple, straight-forward interface for people on this site, not for your average lab tech. – EHaskins Aug 23 '10 at 3:03
At my $WORK, we teach normal, very much non-technical office admin assistants to use ADUC for various tasks. I'd question if these folks are really up to the task of supervising a lab if they're not able to grok ADUC. – ErikA Aug 23 '10 at 3:09
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2 Answers

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I found a tool called Password Control, by WiseSoft. It works very well and is easy for users to understand. It has a configuration file that you can modify to enable/disable various GUI controls and default values. It obviously requires the proper delegation permissions that ADUC would require, but it's simpler for a non-technical user to grasp.

I believe it meets your second criteria by requiring entering the username and does not allow selecting from a list. I don't recall exactly, as I haven't had to assist anyone after initially training people.

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Exactly what I need. Thank you. – EHaskins Oct 7 '10 at 19:12
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up vote 2 down vote

If you or someone on the I.T. staff can build asp.net apps, you can build a relatively straightforward website for the lab supervisors to use in resetting passwords. You can also visit here.

ManageEngine also makes some pretty useful tools. You might take a look at their ADSelfService Plus software.

But really, I'd have to agree with most everyone else. How hard can it be to right-click a user name and reset password? o_O

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