How do I reset the ColdFusion Administrator password?

The follow article explains how to reset the ColdFusion Administrator password. If you forget the CF Admin password, you can update the neo-security.xml file to disable password authentication for the ColdFusion Administrator. You can then access the CF Admin, reset the password and re-enable password authentication. You will need to have administrative access to the server running ColdFusion.

Note: This article only applies to our ColdFusion VPS hosting plans and dedicated servers running ColdFusion. Shared ColdFusion hosting customers do not have access to the ColdFusion Administrator.

To reset the ColdFusion Administrator password, please follow these steps:

1. Connect to the server using Remote Desktop Connection.
2. Navigate to the neo-security.xml file located in the ColdFusion /lib/ directory, for example c:\coldfusion8\lib\neo-security.xml
3. Open the file for editing.
4. Find the section for admin.security.enabled:
5. Change the value from true to false:
6. Save and exit the file.
7. Restart the ColdFusion service.
8. In a browser, load the ColdFusion Administrator.
9. Expand Security and select CF Admin Password.
10. Check Use a ColdFusion Administration password.
11. Enter the new password and click Submit Changes.

Note: You may need to edit the neo-security.xml file again and set the boolean value back to true and reset the ColdFusion service.