IT Service Desk · training guide · draft

How to reset a password or unlock an account

Restore a user's access by resetting their password or unlocking their account after confirming who they are, and record the outcome in the ticket.

Typical time: about 6 min · Use this when a call or a ServiceNow ticket says a user is locked out of their account.

Steps

1. 1
   Open the locked-account ticket in ServiceNow and read the details. · ServiceNow

   Check the requester's role first. Decide: if they are an executive, hand the case to the senior tech. Otherwise handle it yourself.
2. 2
   Verify the caller's identity with their employee ID and their manager's name. · ServiceNow / phone

   Always do this before any reset. Other checks vary across the team, so don't treat them as a replacement.
3. 3
   Open Active Directory Users and Computers and find the user's account. · Active Directory Users and Computers

   Copy the username from the ticket and paste it in. About 28% of the time it gets retyped, and some transfers end up mismatched.
4. 4
   Set the new password or unlock the account. · Active Directory Users and Computers

   Decide: if the user has a new phone, also do MFA re-registration, following the steps on the IT Knowledge Base page on unlocking accounts.
5. 5
   Return to the ticket and write the standard resolution note. · ServiceNow

   Note that identity was verified, the reset was done, and the user confirmed they can sign in.
6. 6
   Confirm the user can sign in, then set the ticket State to resolved. · ServiceNow

   Close only after the user confirms. If they never got the temporary password, or the account locks again from an old phone, expect to redo the reset.

Watch out for

• Retyping the username by hand: about 28% of cases retype it, and about 2% of transfers show a mismatch.
• Redoing the reset: about 10% of cases re-edit a field, most often the new password or the resolution notes, and about 5% are redone after a pause.
• Skipping the knowledge base when a user has a new phone: about 18% of cases open the page, adding about 1.6 minutes, because MFA re-registration is needed.
• Pauses for approval: about 5% of cases wait a median of 1.6 hours, usually after the State is edited, so these cases can stay open for an hour or more.

Faster ways

• Paste the username from the ServiceNow ticket into Active Directory Users and Computers instead of retyping it, which avoids mismatches and redone resets.
• Keep the MFA re-registration steps from the IT Knowledge Base page at hand for new-phone cases, so you don't hunt for them each time.
• Ask your team lead about a self-service flow built with Copilot Studio and Power Automate that verifies the caller and prepares the reset and note for your one-step approval.

Written by AI from how the team actually did this work (2026-10-19 to 2026-10-23): the most common path, the steps people add or redo, and where errors happen. Review and edit before sharing.