How Can I Get A Free Website Domain
Web hosting providers like Hostinger offer free domain registration with some of their hosting plans. By using this method, you will be able to create a website faster than by purchasing the domain name separately.
Another way to get a free website domain is by using a website builder or CMS to create a websites subdomain. WordPress.com and Blogger are two examples of platforms that offer this service. With this method, users can own domains like test.wordpress.com instead of test.com.
However, free subdomains often come with minimal features and tools. Meanwhile, getting a free domain with a hosting service will offer the same freedom as purchasing one.
Local Password Policies Available In Windows
You can implement a password policy setting that enforces password complexity requirements. For more information about this policy setting, see Password must meet complexity requirements. For information about how to apply a password policy, see Apply or Modify a Password Policy. For information about all available password policy settings, see Password Policy.
What Is The Active Directory Default Password Policy
This password policy is configured by group policy and linked to the root of the domain. You can view the default password policy using one of two ways.
Using the GPMC
- Go to Start Menu Administrative Tools Group Policy Management.
- In the console tree, expand the Forest and then Domains. Select the domain for which the Account policies have to be set.
- Double-click the domain to reveal the GPOs linked to the domain.
- Right-click Default Domain Policy and select Edit. A Group Policy Editor console will open.
- Now, navigate to Computer Configuration Policies Windows Settings Security Settings Account Policies Password Policy.
- Double-click Password Policy to reveal the six password settings available in AD. Right-click any one of these settings and select Properties to define the policy setting
- The Properties dialog box of each policy setting will have two tabs. The Security Policy Setting tab is where the value for that setting is set. The Explain tab gives a brief description of the policy setting and its default values.
- In the Security Policy Setting tab, check the Define this Policy Setting check box and enter the desired value. Click Apply and then OK.
Using PowerShell Script
You can also view the default password policy with Powershell using this command.
Get-ADDefaultDomainPasswordPolicy
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Resetting Passwords Through Aduc Console
Note: If you dont have access to the domain controller, make sure you install the Remote Server Administration Tools and enable the ADUC MMC snap-in.
Using ADUC, you can select multiple user accounts and then set a common password for the selected users. However, you can only select users in a single organizational unit and only a common password can be set for the selected users.
Other Domain Name Types
We focused on the different extension types above. The following are the different available structures of domain names:
Second-Level Domains
Second-level domains are below TLDs in the domain name hierarchy. An SLD is the section of a domain name located on the left side of the last dot. Take www.hostinger.com, for example hostinger is the SLD, and .com is the TLD.
Some domain name registries use an SLD to indicate a specific type of entity registering. For example, academic institutions in the United Kingdom mostly register websites under .ac.uk.
Subdomains
A subdomain is a separate division from a larger domain but still shares the same servers. There is no need to purchase and register a subdomain. Technically, the www on most URLs is a subdomain that indicates a site is part of the world wide web.
The most common use for a subdomain is to organize and divide web content into separate sections. For example, Google uses developers.google.com to provide specific information for developers.
Another use of a subdomain is to create another website with the same name but different languages. Take Wikipedia as an example, which has a separate subdomain for each language. It uses en.wikipedia.org for the English version and es.wikipedia.org for the Spanish one.
Free Domains
A free web address often uses the same structure as subdomains. For example, instead of hostingertutorials.com, it would be hostingertutorials.wordpress.com or hostingertutorials.blogspot.com.
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Blocking Inheritance On Domain Controllers
If inheritance is blocked on the domain controllers , password policy settings from policies linked at the root domain will be ignored. This eventually means that the password policy settings changes in that GPO will be ignored and whatever the current password policy is will be applied on the domain. However, linking the GPO directly to the domain controllers has no effect. Administrators have to either remove the blocked inheritance on the domain controllers OU or set the link at the root domain to enforced. As long as the policy appears in the Group Policy Inheritance list, the settings should take effect.
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Passwords Stored In Active Directory
Passwords at rest are stored in several attributes of the Active Directory database . These attributes are listed in the following table:
| Active Directory Attribute |
|---|
| Kerberos Keys, WDigest, etc. |
Note
The storage of LM hashes is disabled by default since Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
When stored in the DIT file, the NT hash is protected by two layers of encryption. In Windows Server 2016/Windows 10 and later versions, it is first encrypted with DES for backwards compatibility and then with CNG BCrypt AES-256 . Previous Windows versions encrypt NT hashes using two layers of DES + RC4 encryption.
For more information about Supplemental Credentials, see MS-SAMR: supplementalCredentials and Supplemental Credentials Structures.
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Configuring A Domain Password Policy
An Active Directory root domain can only have one password policy applied.
When you configure the Default Password Policy, it affects all the computers within that domain.
But if you have a group within the same domain that you want to apply a different set of password requirements, you can use the AD DS fine-grained password policies.
Although you could create a new GPO within the same domain, apply it with a different password setting, and assign it to a specific Organizational Unit , the settings of the new policy will be ignored.
To change the domain password policy, you need to go back to the GPO Default Domain Policy. We already mentioned how to access and edit this policy, here is a summary.
How To Find The Administrator Password In Windows
If you’re trying to log in to the actual “Administrator” account, try leaving the password blank. In other words, just press Enter when asked for the password.
This trick doesn’t work nearly as often in newer versions of Windows as it did in Windows XP but it’s still worth a shot.
Enter the password to your account. Depending on how Windows was set up on your computer, the primary user account will often be configured with administrator privileges.
If you installed Windows on your computer yourself, this is very likely the situation for you.
Have another person enter his or her credentials. If other users have accounts on your computer, one of them may be set up with administrator access.
If this technique works, ask the other person to designate you as an administrator as well. Or, have another administrator change your password for you.
Recover an administrator password using a Windows password recovery tool.
Some of these tools also add administrator privileges to regular Windows user accounts, which could be valuable if you know your account’s password but it’s not an administrator account. Some can also enable accounts like the “Administrator” account.
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Guidelines For Creating A Password Policy
The password policy must ensure that user account passwords are sufficiently unique, strong, and reset promptly. Several compliance regulations, such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX, NIST, and more, have set password policy standards.
The Password Policy Microsoft recommends is:
- Enforce Password History with a value of 24. It will help reduce the risks associated with password reuse.
- Based on the situation, set the Maximum Password Age to 30 to 90 days. A hacker will only have a short period to break a user’s password and get admin rights to network services.
- We should set the Minimum Password Age to one day, as per Windows security baselines. When the duration is 0, you can change your password right away. That’s not a good option to use.
- Set the Minimum Password Length to at least eight characters. An eight-character password is suggested for most situations as it’s strong enough to offer protection while remaining concise for people to memorize.
- Enable Password Must Meet Complexity setting. This policy option, paired with an 8-character minimum password length, guarantees that a unique password has at least 218,340,105,584,896 distinct combinations. A brute force attack is challenging, but not unattainable, with this option.
- Disable Store Passwords Using Reversible Encryption. Enable it if you utilize CHAP through remote access or IAS or Digest Authentication in IIS.
Retrieving Your Domain Password
You can get your authorisation code via your registrar, usually via their account management tools.
Via the authorisation code recovery tool
You can also get your authorisation code by using the tool here:
This tool will send your authorisation code to the registrant email address listed in the registry .
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Gtlds: Generic Top Level Domains
A generic top-level domain is an extension that does not rely on a country code. There are no specific criteria to get a gTLD. However, some extensions are sponsored by designated agencies or organizations.
Some generic TLDs are restricted to specific types of registrants. For example, an academic institution can use .edu, and a governmental agency can use .gov. If your domain does not fall under particular categories or institutions, you will not be able to use the extension.
Reset Domain Administrator Password Using Ctrl+alt+del Screen
While logged into your Windows Server 2012 domain controller, press Ctrl + Alt + Del keys together on your keyboard to get the security screen. Click Change a password.
Enter your old password for security purposes, and then type in your new password twice. Click on the Enter arrow located to the right.
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How To Reset Lost/forgotten Windows 10/8/7 Administrator/domain Password
Windows Password Key will fully satisfy your needs to change Windows Admin/Domain password on all computers. The Windows password recovery process will be finished with no data loss or file damage at a fast speed. This software supports to get back lost administrator passwords, domain password, user login passwords, Microsoft account password and etc.
Now take a look at the tutorial of how to perform Windows password recovery on Windows 10/8/7 computer step by step.
Step1. Download the program in any accessible PC . Then run the program and select Windows Password Key Enterprise to launch automatically.
Step2. Select USB flash drive and specify the USB flash drive burning drive from the pull-down list as well as insert a blank USB flash drive. Click Burn button. Then click Yes to go on burning. Then Windows Password Key extracts the ISO image and copies the necessary files on a USB flash drive.
Step3. Insert newly created USB flash drive into your protected computer and reboot it. Then press F2 to set the BIOS to boot from USB. Next, choose the Windows installation to be processed.
Step4. Select the user account you want to remove and click Reset Windows Password and click to move on the next step.
Step5. Now, your protected password is removed. And click Next and reboot your computer. Then you can log in your computer with the newly created password.
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How To Never Forget The Admin Password Again
The administrator password is needed in some situations, but if you find that you have a hard time remembering your password when you need it, there are some things you can do to avoid forgetting it again in the future.
One method many people use to store user account passwords is a password manager. All you need to remember is one password, and then inside the password vault is a list of all your hard-to-remember passwords, which could include your Windows administrator password.
The official Microsoft way to never forget your password is to make a Windows password reset disk so that any time you forget your password, even if you’ve changed it a dozen times since you made the disk, you can always get into your administrator account.
Although it isn’t super secure, something else you can do is avoid having to type the administrator password ever again. To do that, you can set up your computer to automatically log in to Windows. The password is remembered for you so that all you have to do is turn your computer on to log in.
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Resetting Passwords Using Adselfservice Plus
ADSelfService Plus, an integrated Active Directory self-service password management and single sign-on solution, empowers end users to reset passwords on their own. It employs secure authentication methods, such as YubiKey Authenticator, Google Authenticator, and biometric authentication, to verify usersâ identities before allowing them to reset passwords. Thereâs more:
- Users can reset their Active Directory passwords right from the login screen of their Windows, Linux, and macOS machines, as well as through their mobile devices using the ADSelfService Plus Android and iOS apps.
- Self-service password reset and account unlock can be enabled for all the users in the domain or for specific users by creating OU and group-based policies.
- Passwords can be checked for complexity and compliance through the built-in password policy enhancer feature which contains dictionary rule, pattern checker, and other complexity settings that are missing in AD domain password policy.
To enable self-service password reset for Active Directory users using ADSelfService Plus:
Note: By default, both the username and passwords for ADSelfervice Plus is admin.