Change password of Azure VM using PowerShell

Question

I have tried this approach to change a password of an Azure VM:

$resgroup = "rsource1"
$vmName = "virtualmachine1"

$VM = Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $resgroup -Name $vmName 

$Credential = Get-Credential

$VM | Set-AzureVMAccessExtension    –UserName $Credential.UserName `
                                    –Password $Credential.GetNetworkCredential().Password

$VM | Update-AzVM

But I keep getting this error:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

When I console.log the values of $Credential.UserName and $Credential.GetNetworkCredential().Password I got the values of username and password that I have inputted.

What am I missing here?

See this article. May be useful: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/… — Rogerson Nazário
– Rogerson Nazário, Commented Mar 20, 2020 at 13:15

RoadRunner · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-20 14:14:15Z

3

I've never used Set-AzureVMAccessExtension, but I've used the Az PowerShell equivalant Set-AzVMAccessExtension. It needs you to pass -Credential $Credential instead of -UserName and -Password.

You can try this script I made a while ago to to reset passwords for Azure VMs:

# Replace these values with your own
$resourceGroupName = "Servers-RG"
$vmName = "server1"

# Get the VM into an object
$vm = Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name $vmName 

# Store credentials you want to change
$credential = Get-Credential -Message "Enter your username and password for $vmName"

# Store parameters in a hashtable for splatting
# Have a look at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_splatting?view=powershell-7
$extensionParams = @{
    'VMName' = $vmName
    'Credential' = $credential
    'ResourceGroupName' = $resourceGroupName
    'Name' = 'AdminPasswordReset'
    'Location' = $vm.Location
}

# Pass splatted parameters and update password
Set-AzVMAccessExtension @extensionParams

# Restart VM
# Don't need to pass any switches since they are inferred ByPropertyName
# Have a look at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_pipelines?view=powershell-7
$vm | Restart-AzVM

I found that the password update doesn't happen until you restart the VM, so Restart-VM is required.

edited Mar 20, 2020 at 14:14

answered Mar 20, 2020 at 13:10

RoadRunner

26.4k6 gold badges46 silver badges77 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Lakshan Umesh Over a year ago

This is working for rdp administrator logins only right? Can I know the process of reset the rdp password for general user accounts?

g.pickardou · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-17 12:22:45Z

1

If anyone interested in the Linux (KISS) version (no VM restart needed):

$settings = '{}'
$protectedSettings = '{
   "username": "<yourusername, prefer using Credentials object>",
   "password": "<yourpassword, prefer using Credentials object>"
}'        

Set-AzVMExtension `
    -VMName $vmName `
    -ResourceGroupName $rgName `
    -Location $location  `
    -Name "VMAccessForLinux"  `
    -Publisher "Microsoft.OSTCExtensions" `
    -ExtensionType "VMAccessForLinux"  `
    -TypeHandlerVersion "1.4"  `
    -Settingstring $settings `
    -ProtectedSettingString $protectedSettings

answered Oct 17, 2022 at 12:22

g.pickardou

36.5k47 gold badges161 silver badges326 bronze badges

1 Comment

RSW Over a year ago

Isn't this going to modify other properties? Possible to use Get-AzVMExtension before?

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Change password of Azure VM using PowerShell

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related