portainer-docs/advanced/reset-admin.md

# Reset the admin user's password

If your Portainer admin forgets their password, follow these steps to reset it. There are three methods depending on your Portainer environment.

## Method 1: Resetting the admin password if Portainer runs as a container

{% hint style="info" %}
You would typically use this method if you run the Portainer Server on Docker Standalone.
{% endhint %}

First, go to our [reset password container helper](https://github.com/portainer/helper-reset-password) in GitHub, then stop the Portainer container by running this command:

```
docker stop "id-portainer-container"
```

Next, run the helper using the following command (you'll need to mount the Portainer data volume):

{% hint style="warning" %}
If your Portainer data volume has a different name than `portainer_data` or you are using a bind mount for your data volume, you will need to adjust the mount in the below `docker run` command to suit your path.
{% endhint %}

```
docker pull portainer/helper-reset-password
docker run --rm -v portainer_data:/data portainer/helper-reset-password
```

If successful, the output should look like this:

```
2020/06/04 00:13:58 Password successfully updated for user: admin
2020/06/04 00:13:58 Use the following password to login: &_4#\3^5V8vLTd)E"NWiJBs26G*9HPl1
```

If the helper is unable to find an admin user to update, it will create a new one for you. If the username `admin` is already used, it will create a user named `admin-[randomstring]`:

```
2022/08/10 07:36:33 [WARN] Unable to retrieve user with ID 1, will try to create, err: object not found inside the database
2022/08/10 07:36:33 Admin user admin-u0512b3f0v4dqk7o successfully created
2022/08/10 07:36:33 Use the following password to login: Sr#]YL_6D0k8Pd{pA9^|}F32j5J4I=av
```

Finally, use this command to start the Portainer container then try logging in with the new password:

```
docker start "id-portainer-container"
```

## Method 2: Resetting the admin password if Portainer runs as a stack/service

{% hint style="info" %}
You would typically use this method if you run the Portainer Server on Docker Swarm.
{% endhint %}

First, scale the Portainer service to zero using this command:

```
docker service scale portainer_portainer=0
```

Next, run the [reset password container helper](https://github.com/portainer/helper-reset-password) using the same bind-mount/volume as the data volume:

{% hint style="warning" %}
If your Portainer data volume has a different name than `portainer_data` or you are using a bind mount for your data volume, you will need to adjust the mount in the below `docker run` command to suit your path.
{% endhint %}

```
docker pull portainer/helper-reset-password
docker run --rm -v portainer_portainer_data:/data portainer/helper-reset-password
```

If successful, the output should look like this:

```
2020/06/04 00:13:58 Password successfully updated for user: admin
2020/06/04 00:13:58 Use the following password to login: &_4#\3^5V8vLTd)E"NWiJBs26G*9HPl1
```

If the helper is unable to find an admin user to update, it will create a new one for you. If the username `admin` is already used, it will create a user named `admin-[randomstring]`:

```
2022/08/10 07:36:33 [WARN] Unable to retrieve user with ID 1, will try to create, err: object not found inside the database
2022/08/10 07:36:33 Admin user admin-u0512b3f0v4dqk7o successfully created
2022/08/10 07:36:33 Use the following password to login: Sr#]YL_6D0k8Pd{pA9^|}F32j5J4I=av
```

Finally, start up the Portainer service scaling using this command then try logging in with the new password:

```
docker service scale portainer_portainer=1
```

## Method 3: Resetting the admin password if Portainer is deployed in a Kubernetes cluster

{% hint style="info" %}
You would typically use this method if you run the Portainer Server on a Kubernetes cluster.
{% endhint %}

First, scale the Portainer deployment to zero using this command:

```
kubectl scale deploy portainer --replicas=0 -n portainer
```

Next, create a pod using the [reset password container helper](https://github.com/portainer/helper-reset-password) image and mount the Portainer data volume. Create a pod YAML file using the command below:

{% hint style="info" %}
You may need to change the YAML below to match your Portainer deployment (for example if using a different `claimName`).
{% endhint %}

```
cat > passreset.yml<< EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: passreset
spec:
  volumes:
    - name: data
      persistentVolumeClaim:
        claimName: portainer
  containers:
    - name: passreset
      image: portainer/helper-reset-password
      volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: "/data"
          name: data
  restartPolicy: Never
EOF
```

Create the password reset pod using the command below:

```
kubectl apply -f passreset.yml -n portainer
```

Once the new pod is created and transitions into a completed state, you can see the new password in the pod logs:

```
kubectl logs passreset -n portainer
```

If successful, the output should look something like this:

```
2020/06/04 00:13:58 Password successfully updated for user: admin
2020/06/04 00:13:58 Use the following password to login: &_4#\3^5V8vLTd)E"NWiJBs26G*9HPl1
```

Finally, scale up the Portainer deployment using this command then try logging in with the new password:

```
kubectl scale deploy portainer --replicas=1 -n portainer
```

You can delete the password reset pod using the below command:

```
kubectl delete pod passreset -n portainer
```