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Exchange users losing or forgetting their passwords is a common occurrence. Fortunately, Exchange administrators can resolve this issue easily by resetting the passwords of the respective mailboxes.

We are going to learn the methods to reset the passwords of Exchange mailboxes. The most common way is to use Active Directory and Users Computers. Another method is to reset password from the Exchange Admin Center.

Resetting Mailbox Password from AD Users and Computers

Administrators can easily reset the passwords of Exchange mailboxes from Active Directory Users and Computers. Let us look at the general steps required for resetting the mailbox password:

1. In the AD server of Exchange, open Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. Click on the Users option to view the list of users.
   
3. Select the Exchange mailbox whose password you want to reset and right-click on it. Select the Reset password option from the list.
   
4. A dialogue box named Reset Password gets opened. In this, enter a new password (as per the password complexity requirements), confirm the new password by typing it again and select the checkbox (if required) and click OK.
   
5. The mailbox password is reset and is confirmed with a message.
   

Resetting Mailbox Password from Exchange Admin Center

There is another way to change the passwords of Exchange mailboxes, i.e., using the Exchange Admin Center. But the Reset password option is disabled by default. So, you must enable this option in settings. Before enabling it, users should run these commands one after the other in PowerShell.

• Add-pssnapin microsoft
• Install-CannedRbacRoles
• Install-CannedRbacRoleAssignments

Now, Let Us Understand How to Enable the Reset Password Option in EAC.

1. Login to Exchange Admin Center, go to Permissions>Organization Management and click Edit.
   
2. In the Organization Management page, click + option under the Roles section (to add a new role).
   
3. Now select the Reset Password from the provided list, click the add option and then click Save.
   
4. Once the changes are saved, sign out from the Exchange Admin Center and log in again.

Now when you select a user mailbox and click Edit to view its properties, you will find the Reset Password option. Here, you can set a new password of the mailbox and save it for the next login.

Resetting the passwords will help you access mailboxes that have become inaccessible due to loss of passwords. However, if mailboxes are inaccessible due to EDB file corruption or server crashes, you need to use an Exchange recovery tool.

The professional software for Exchange data recovery, Kernel for Exchange Server recovery is helpful here. It restores any kind of inaccessible Exchange data safely to the desired destination location. It is the best solution for accessing the Exchange data back after Exchange Server corruptions.

Summary

The article describes the two ways to reset the passwords of Exchange mailboxes. These methods can be employed if Exchange users forget their password and are unable to access their mailboxes. However, if the mailbox inaccessibility is due to some corruption issues, these methods may not be helpful. To deal with corruption issues, users can first go for the manual EDB to PST conversion methods. But if the corruption is high-level, then a reliable Exchange recovery software like Kernel for Exchange Server is recommended.