SOLVED: How To Reset iDRAC Password Using OMSA Without Rebooting Server

Lets clear up a couple of quick questions for Dell or server admin newbies first. If you know what you are doing, just skip down two sections to the screenshot.

What Does iDRAC Stand For?

Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller

What Is An iDRAC?

An iDRAC is a very small computer on a single board that is installed in most Dell servers. HP’s version of the iDRAC is named iLO which is “Integrated Lights Out” and that tells you what it is used for.

iDRAC’s and iLO’s allow administrators to connect to and FULLY manage a server even when it is powered off. As long at the iDRAC / iLO has a network cable plugged into it AND the server is plugged into an outlet, the iDRAC / iLO will stay operational. For more details watch THIS 2 minute video.

How To Reset an iDRAC Password Without Rebooting the Server?

We recently needed to gain access to a new clients iDRAC but we did not have the credentials from the previous company. Configuring the iDRAC through the BIOS is not difficult, but our client did not want the server off line for even a minute.

Fortunately, we were able to install Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) and using our domain administrator credentials sign into OMSA and make all the changes we need. In the end however, we decided to use a simple command line make the change.

1 – How To Reset an iDRAC Password Using OMSA

We could have reset the iDRAC password using OMSA this way:

1. Launch OMSA
2. Expand SYSTEM
3. Expand MAIN SYSTEM CHASSIS
4. Expand REMOTE ACCESS
5. Clicked on RESET TO DEFAULTS

But if we had done that, we would have reset ALL of the iDRAC configuration and that includes the static IP address it had.

So we decided to use a simple cmd line to reset the iDRAC password.

2 – Command To Reset an iDRAC Password

Note that the command line we used required OMSA to be installed because that is what gave us the new “racadm” command as you can see in the screen shot above.

1. On the server in question, open a Command Prompt as an Administrator
2. [OPTIONAL] Confirm the default admin account still exists with this command
   • racadm get iDRAC.Users.2
3. Use this command to reset the password
   1. racadm set iDRAC.Users.2.Password WhateverPWYouWant
   2. Note that the command is not case sensitive but the password is

For more details check these two links:

• Dell.com/idracmanuals
• Dell.com/openmanagemanuals

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