Manage or Restore the Default Administrator Account

This page provides instructions for managing the default admin user account.

Reset the Default Administrator Account

When you install YouTrack for the first time, you set the username and password for the default administrator account. This account is assigned the System Admin role in the Global project.

If you forget the credentials for the default administrator account, or have inherited an installation configured by another administrator, you can reset the username and password for the account to their default values. You can also set the system properties for the default administrator when you restore the account.

You can also use this procedure when two-factor authentication is enabled and the default administrator no longer has access to the authentication app that is paired with the account. Resetting the default administrator account to its default state also disables two-factor authentication.

If you've forgotten the password for the default admin user account, you can restore it using the -Djetbrains.youtrack.admin.restore=true command. For more information, see Configuration Parameters.

To restore the default admin user account:

Stop YouTrack:
docker exec <containerId> stop
Execute the following command:
docker run --rm -it \ -v <path to conf directory>:/opt/youtrack/conf \ jetbrains/youtrack:<version> \ configure -J-Djetbrains.youtrack.admin.restore=true
- Replace <path to conf directory> with the full path to the conf directory in the Docker container.
- Replace <version> with the current version and build of your YouTrack server.
The backslash characters (\) at the end of each line are only used to improve the readability of the code sample. If you're working with a Docker container in a Windows environment, you must either remove the slashes and line breaks or replace them with carets (^) when you run the command.
Start YouTrack:
docker start <containerId>
- When YouTrack starts, the username and password for the default administrator account are reset to their default values (admin/admin).
- The permissions that are granted to this account are reset to their defaults as well.
Log in to the application and change the system administrator password.

If you installed YouTrack with a ZIP installation, use the following procedure.

To restore your default admin user account:

Stop YouTrack with the command:
<YouTrack Installation Directory>/bin/youtrack.sh stop
Start YouTrack with the command:
<YouTrack Installation Directory>/bin/youtrack.sh start --J-Djetbrains.youtrack.admin.restore=true
Make sure to use the double dash before the J option to apply the JVM property only to the current run and not affect any subsequent restart of the YouTrack service.
The username for the default admin user account is set to "admin" and the password is set to "admin".
Log in to YouTrack as the "admin" user. Change the system administrator password.

Last modified: 15 December 2023