Changing Your Deployment Server / Solution Username and Password (After Initial Installation)
After the initial installation of Altiris Deployment Solution, I decided that I wanted to change the password. It wasn't as easy as I thought. I found out that I had to change it in a lot of places that are not very intuitive. When you change your password on the Deployment Server / Solution, you need to change it in a lot of different locations. Using the same username and password for each item mentioned will ensure things work properly.
Changing the Service Account password
Click “Start” > “All Programs” > “Altiris” > “Deployment Solution” > “Configuration”
A new window will open and click the “Account” button. Then, change the username and password and click “OK” , “OK”.
Changing Each Service Log On Username and Password
Go to Start > Run > type "services.msc" > change the logon password of the Altiris Deployment Server Console Manger, the Altiris Deployment Server Data Manager, the Altiris Deployment Server DB Management, the Altiris eXpress Server, and the Altiris PXE Manager.
Do the following for each services mentioned above:
Right-click on the service, click “Properties”, click the “Log On” tab, change the password and confirm password with the new username/password, click “OK”
Changing the Windows user password
You can change this in a few different ways. If you are logged in as the Altiris user, you can hit CTRL + ALT + DELETE and click “Change Password”, then change your password, confirm it.
NOTE: The above method is preferred because you don’t have to accept the message saying the some data could be lost
You can also change the password by right-clicking on “My Computer” > select “Manage” > select “System Tools” > “Local Users and Groups” > “Users”
OR
Open Local Users and Groups by clicking "Start" > "Run", type "lusrmgr.msc", and press "Enter"
Then, right click on the user and select “Set Password” , click “Proceed”
Type in a password of your choice ex: "AltirisUser"
Confirm the password of your choice ex: "AltirisUser"
Drive Mappings & File Permissions
All of the drives that are mapped in your Altiris Deployment Solution Configuration will require that you modify those file systems and mappings to have the same username and password as your Altiris Deployment Solution. For example, if your Altiris Deployment Solution Server has had all of the passwords change for the username “AltirisUser”, then you will need to create a user on your other file shares on other servers to have the same username “AltirisUser” and password. That means that you may need to follow the same procedure as above (Changing the Windows user password) for each server. You may also need to make sure that the folder that is shared has the correct file permissions. In some cases on Windows machines, that means you need to grant them both NTFS and sharing permissions.
If you have any jobs that were set up to run with a specific username and password, you may need to change those jobs as well.
Changing the Database’s User password (Example: SQL Server Express)
Different database systems are configured differently, so I will not attempt to cover them. However, if you use the Windows Authentication method for your database, you should not need to change anything on your database configuration (you will still need to change what was described above. However, you could change the password by clicking "Start Menu" > "All Programs" > "Microsoft SQL Server 2005" > " SQL Server Management Studio Express" > Login with your username and password > click the “Security” folder, “Logins” folder, double click the user and change the password.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these instructions have helped you change your Altiris Deployment Solutions' password. It has helped me.
We recently had a security
We recently had a security breach and had to change all the passwords in all the places you mentioned above. Also, we had to change the passwords on some of our software deployment jobs that ran scripts and needed to use a separate login. This proved to be somewhat tricky. Thanks to KB Article 18919, we got that fixed too. Anyway, thanks for the good article.
Only the services
We recently changed the password of the user we used to install the DS. The only place I had to change the password was in the services. Another thing you might want to mention is the change password tool. Under Tools-Options-Task Password you can change the password for all the jobs that use a specified user name.
Great article though!
thank you guys
thank you for sharing this
Thanks,
Eshwar
we have configure with service account
we have configure with service account so our deployment server works with that
dont you do this with other programs
I am trying to figure out the necessity of this. Don't we as adminsitrators realize that high end server management programs would require you to change how this runs on a account level. If it was easier it would be a security risk. Any one could just change the account the program runs as and basically gain access to the program in question, but also gain access to SQL. I have users all day ask "why does it have to be difficult." I think the job of security is to find the balance between secure and ease of use. This article almost seems like a section pulled out of the Deployment Server Reference Guide. Dont get me wrong giving best practices is nice since the regular KB doesnt always have it.
Linux Man
Viddect
my NS server run with system account...
just opened services.msc and changed all NS services to SYSTEM acount, works great!
but please, do your own tests and don't see that as recommendation... :)
Thank you - This article almost seems like ...
Viddect, I will take your words, "This article almost seems like a section pulled out of the Deployment Server Reference Guide" as a compliment. I couldn't find instructions on how to change the password in any manual or guide, which is why I wrote the article after I figured it out on my own. It would be nice if they added to the reference guide. In the mean time, enjoy the article.
thx
Thx 4 useful info
Don't forget to check any
Don't forget to check any scripts you may have set up in DS for jobs. I've often seen the DS Service account used for the "run as" account in script jobs in DS. Make sure you change those as well or you may risk locking your service account.
Stu
ITS Partners
LinkedIn
best instructions I had
best instructions I had seen... hope Symantec could give this kind of graphical proceedure..
specially for the new comers..
thanks...
Nel Ramos
Would you like to reply?
Login or Register to post your comment.