How to change a user's password on a remote computer

• Download project with sources - 29.4 KB
• Download static binary (English) - 109 KB
• Download static binary (German) - 109 KB

Introduction

This is my first article on CodeProject. So please don't expect too much. ;-)

Given scenario

An old workstation running Windows 2000 acts as a "file server". Users can access shared folders over the network by connecting using a username and password. Unfortunately, in a workgroup environment, there is no built-in way to change the passwords of these local users from a remote machine.

Tasks to solve

The described problem can be divided into three main parts:

1. How to get a list of all the computers in our workgroup?
2. How to get a list of all users from a specific computer?
3. How to change a user's password on a remote computer?

The API is your friend

In the MSDN are three corresponding network management functions mentioned. Their usage is well explained, so I won't recite the MSDN.

1. NetServerEnum
2. NetQueryDisplayInformation (see: How to get a list of users from a server)
3. NetUserChangePassword

But the simple NetUserChangePassword function prototype should be self-explanatory.

DWORD NetUserChangePassword(
  LPCWSTR domainname,
  LPCWSTR username,
  LPCWSTR oldpassword,
  LPCWSTR newpassword
);

Naming conventions

The different strings (e.g., usernames, passwords) are limited to a certain number of characters. It seems that these limitations are a relic from the NT LAN Manager.

Name	Length
Domain/Workgroup	15
Server	15
User	20
Password	14

Security concerns

NetQueryDisplayInformation requires anonymous access to the remote machine. Furthermore, an established NULL session connection (e.g., to $IPC) is required.

Using the code

The server and the user enumeration are wrapped into several classes.

Iterating through the result list shouldn't be a big deal.

NetObjectEnumerator *noe = 
   new [ NetServerEnumerator(Domain) | NetUserEnumerator(Server) ] ;
if(noe->GetError() == ERROR_SUCCESS){
  while(noe->HasNext()){
    NetObject *no = noe->GetNext();
    ... = no->name; // process the current server/user name...

  }
}
else
  ... = NetObjectEnumerator::GetErrorMessage(noe->GetError());
  // process the occurred error...

Error codes and message strings

The FormatMessage function maps an error code to a message. For network management errors, the netmsg.dll module is used to look up the specified errors.

CString GetErrorMessage(DWORD dwLastError){
  HMODULE hModule = NULL;
  DWORD dwFormatFlags = FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | 
        FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM;
  LPTSTR lpMessageBuffer = NULL;
  if((dwLastError >= NERR_BASE) && (dwLastError <= MAX_NERR)){
    hModule = LoadLibraryEx(_T("netmsg.dll"), NULL, LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE);
    if(hModule != NULL)
      dwFormatFlags |= FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_HMODULE;
  }
  FormatMessage(
    dwFormatFlags,
    hModule,
    dwLastError,
    MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
    (LPTSTR)&lpMessageBuffer,
    0,
    NULL);
  CString szMessage;
  szMessage.Format(_T("%s (%u)"), lpMessageBuffer, dwLastError);
  LocalFree(lpMessageBuffer);
  if(hModule != NULL)
    FreeLibrary(hModule);
  return szMessage;
}

Credits

Credits go to Chris Maunder for his great HyperLink static control.

Notice

The application has not been tested in a domain environment. Any volunteers?

Please feel free to send your feedback to me via email. Bug reports, spelling corrections, opinions, and comments would be much appreciated.

History

• 05/16/2006:
• Original article published.
• Version 1.0.0.1 released

The newest Password Changer version is also available on my website.