I have a problem that I can't find the solution to. I have found others with the same problem but the answers provided to them were not the exact situation I am in currently. Please read all the text and see if you can answer this...
I downloaded a copy of Windows Server 2012 R2. I am installing it on a stand alone PRE OWNED server which is a Dell R900 quad quad core server with 16gb ram and 500gb drive. The drive has been initialized and configured perfectly and windows server has been loaded.
Upon the start of it, the screen appears that tells you to change your password for the admin account. Upon putting ANY (and I do mean ANY) password in there regardless of the complexity, the machine comes back with ..." The password you typed does not meet the password complexity requirements set by the administrator for your network or group. Get the requirements from your administrator, and then type a new password."
I have tried new drives with no luck, I have tried everything that one can try on this (except the right thing of course). My guess is that the machine retained some crazy complex password file and stored it in an EEprom on board. If this was a factory fresh machine, I would guess that this wouldn't be an issue as there was no file created yet that the machine is running it's scripted denial from. So... Does anyone have the exact method for eradicating this file or changing the domain controller or file that controls this complexity problem WITHOUT HAVING TO LOG INTO THE MACHINE since as I said, you can't log into it. I even tried to go in through Linux to find the password in the SAM and since it's a new copy of windows, and there is no passwords in there, it couldn't find the file since the admin acct wasn't set up yet (but that domain controller is working it's butt off and keeping me out I tell ya! lol)
Any help would be appreciated more than you know! ...Scott