Elastic Compute Service:Reset the logon password of an ECS instance

Method 1: Reset the logon password of an ECS instance online in the ECS console

You can reset the logon password of an ECS instance online in the ECS console without the need to restart or log on to the instance. The new logon password takes effect within 1 minute. You can also use this method to change the logon password of a user that you created on the ECS instance. However, this method does not support batch operations and requires that Cloud Assistant Agent is installed on the ECS instance and the instance is in the Running state. For information about the requirements for the Cloud Assistant Agent version and the installation operations, see Comparison of the methods used to reset the logon password of an ECS instance.

1. Go to ECS console - Instance.

2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group of the resource that you want to manage.

3. Find the ECS instance that you want to manage and choose > Instance Attributes > Reset Instance Password in the Actions column.

4. In the Reset Instance Password dialog box, select Online Reset, configure the parameters, and then click OK. The following table describes the parameters.

   

   Parameter	Description
   Logon Username	When you reset the password online, you can enter the logon username that you specified when you created the ECS instance or the logon username of a custom user that you created on the instance. The system resets the password that corresponds to the specified logon username. Example: root or ecs-user.
   New Password and Confirm Password	The password must be 8 to 30 characters in length and contain at least three of the following character types: Uppercase letters (A to Z) Lowercase letters (a to z) Digits (0 to 9) Special characters: ( ) ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * - _ + = | { } [ ] : ; ' < > , . ? / Note For Windows instances, logon passwords cannot start with a forward slash (/).
   Password Reset Method	Select Online Reset.
   SSH Password Authentication	This parameter is available only when you set the Password Reset Method parameter to Online Reset. Enable: If you enable SSH Password Authentication, the system automatically sets the PasswordAuthentication parameter to yes in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file. This allows you to use the specified password for authentication when you connect to the instance by using SSH. Note If your ECS instance originally uses password-based authentication, password-based authentication is automatically disabled after a key pair is bound to the instance. If you want to re-enable password-based authentication, you can use the Online Reset method to enable SSH Password Authentication and reset the logon password of the ECS instance. After you reset the logon password, you can use the new password to log on to the instance. Retain Original Settings: If you select this option, you can change only the logon password of the instance. The value of the PasswordAuthentication parameter in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file remains unchanged.

5. (Optional) Use the new password to log on to the ECS instance.

   For more information, see Connect to an instance.

Method 2: Reset the logon password of an ECS instance offline in the ECS console

After you reset the logon password of an ECS instance offline in the ECS console, you must restart or start the ECS instance for the new logon password to take effect. You can batch reset the passwords of multiple ECS instances offline without the need to install Cloud Assistant Agent on the instances. Make sure that the ECS instances are in the Running or Stopped state. You can use this method to change only the password of the logon username that you specified when you created an ECS instance. You cannot use this method to reset the password of custom logon usernames.

1. Go to ECS console - Instance.

2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group of the resource that you want to manage.

3. Perform one of the following operations based on the number of instances whose logon passwords you want to reset at a time:

   • To reset the logon password of a single instance, find the instance and choose > Instance Attributes > Reset Instance Password in the Actions column.

   • To reset the logon password of multiple instances at a time, select the instances and choose > Reset Instance Password in the lower part of the Instance page.

4. In the Reset Instance Password dialog box, select Offline Reset, configure the parameters, and then click OK. The following table describes the parameters.

   

   Parameter	Description
   Logon Username	When you reset the password offline, the logon username that you specified when you created the ECS instance is used and cannot be changed. If you select the Offline Reset method, you can change the password only for the logon username that you specified when you created an ECS instance.
   New Password and Confirm Password	The password must be 8 to 30 characters in length and contain at least three of the following character types: Uppercase letters (A to Z) Lowercase letters (a to z) Digits (0 to 9) Special characters: ( ) ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * - _ + = | { } [ ] : ; ' < > , . ? / Note For Windows instances, logon passwords cannot start with a forward slash (/).
   Password Reset Method	Select Offline Reset. If the instance is in the Running state, click Restart Now. Warning The restart operation stops the instance for a short period of time and may interrupt services that are running on the instance. We recommend that you restart the instance during off-peak hours. If the instance is in the Stopped state, the new password takes effect when you start the instance.

5. (Optional) Use the new password to log on to the ECS instance.

   For more information, see Connect to an instance.

Method 3: Reset the logon password of an ECS instance online by using Cloud Assistant

When you use Cloud Assistant to reset the password of an ECS instance, you do not need to log on to the instance or restart the instance. You can configure a schedule to run or immediately run a Cloud Assistant command to reset the password of the instance.

1. Go to ECS console - ECS Cloud Assistant.

2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group of the resource that you want to manage.

3. Click Create/Run Command.

4. Configure the parameters described in the following table to reset the logon password. Use the default settings for other parameters.

   Parameter	Description
   Command Type	Select a command type. For Linux ECS instances, select Shell. For Windows ECS instances, select Bat or PowerShell.
   Command content	The content of the command. In the field, enter one of the following commands based on the operating system of your instance to change the logon password: Linux ECS instance: echo "root:<yourPassword>"|chpasswd Windows ECS instance: net user "Administrator" "<yourPassword>" Note Replace <yourPassword> with a new password. The password must be 8 to 30 characters in length. The password must contain at least three of the following character types: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, digits, and special characters. The password of a Windows ECS instance cannot start with a forward slash (/).
   Execution Plan	Select Immediate execution.
   Select Instance	Select the ECS instances on which you want to run the command.

5. Click Run.

Method 4: Reset the password of an ECS instance from within the instance

When you perform operations in the operating system of an ECS instance, you can reset the logon password of the instance based on your business requirements without the need to log on to the ECS console. After you reset the password, the new password immediately takes effect without the need to restart the instance.