You receive a "System error 1355 has occurred (0x0000054b)" error message when you use Cluster.exe to change the Cluster Service password in Windows Server 2003

On a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based server cluster, if you try to change the Cluster service account password by using the cluster.exe command together with the /changepassword option, you receive the following error message:For example, you receive this error message if you try to change the Cluster service account password by using one of the following commands:

• cluster /cluster:clustername /changepassword:newpassword /skipdc /verbose /force
• cluster /cluster:clustername /changepassword:newpassword,oldpassword /verbose /force

This problem occurs if your Windows Server 2003 server cluster is joined to a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 domain.

This problem occurs because the Cluster.exe command tries to obtain the Cluster service account password from the cluster node in the user principal name (UPN) format. For example, the Cluster.exe command expects the Cluster service name to be in a format such as clusteraccount@domain.com. Because the server cluster is joined to a Windows NT 4.0 domain, the Cluster service account password is in the DOMAIN\CLUSTERACCOUNT format.

In this scenario, error code 0x54B corresponds to the following error result:

To work around this problem, manually change the Cluster service account password on the Windows NT 4.0 primary domain controller, and then specify the new password in the Cluster Service Properties (Local Computer) dialog box on each cluster node. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Stop the Cluster service on each cluster node. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Log on to the cluster node.
   2. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
   3. Right-click Cluster Service, and then click Stop.
2. When the Cluster service is stopped on all the cluster nodes, log on to the Windows NT 4.0 primary domain controller, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools (Common), and then click User Manager for Domains.
3. Double-click the Cluster service account, type the new password in the Password box and in the Confirm Password box, and then click OK.
4. On each cluster node, change the Cluster service password to the password that you typed in step 3. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
   2. Double-click Cluster Service, and then click the Log On tab.
   3. Type the new Cluster service account password in the Password box and in the Confirm password box, and then click OK.
5. When the Cluster service account password is changed on all the cluster nodes, start the Cluster service on each cluster node.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: