Do not disturb! Why my Local Security Authority could not be contacted.

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So, you created a new VM using Azure snapshot but can’t log into it. You’ve tried everything you can think of. It’s 1AM. You’ve been to 20 forums, ran 30 Google searches and have less hair than you did 5 hours ago.

What is happening?!?!?

After hours of frustration and using language I would rather not put into print, this little trick helped me sign into an Azure VM after recreating it from an Azure Snapshot!

This error caused me great emotional distress:

Let me save you some time and more importantly, hair follicles:

Step 1: From the Azure portal, go to the Virtual Machines blade and click on the problematic VM. Under Operations, click “Run Command.”

Step 2: In this window, you will see several commands that you can run directly from the portal. Click on the command “DisableNLA.” This allows us to remotely modify the RDP service.

Step 3: Stop, then start, the VM and use the local admin credentials to sign in. If you forgot the local admin credentials and need to reset your password, go back to the VM blade, select the problematic VM, scroll down to “Support + troubleshooting,” and select “Reset password.”

Step 4: From here, input your current local admin username with a new password. You can also create a new local admin user this way.

I hope this helps alleviate some of the pain of troubleshooting the “Local Security Authority cannot be contacted” error message!

Vu Hoang

Author

Vu is a Systems Engineer here at Cloudforce and has an ever-growing resume of experience in IT. Since completing his bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and Organization Management from George Mason University, Vu has acquired multiple renowned certifications including the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

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