---
title: ChangeUserPasswordOrGetException
summary: Resets an external-domain account's password with no local exception handling, surfacing directory failures as SOAP faults.
status: draft
owner: "Not determined from source"
last_reviewed: 2026-09-22
---

# ChangeUserPasswordOrGetException (OP-11)

## Request and response

| Part | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `inUserId` | `String` | The `SamAccountName` of the account whose password is reset. |
| `inNewPassword` | `String` | The new password, carried as a plaintext SOAP string parameter (SEC-06 — see [Authentication and authorization](../authentication-authorization.md)). Never reproduce example values in documentation; use `<value>` placeholders only. |

| Part | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `<return>` | `ADServiceResponse` | `Response` is `Success` or `UserDoesNotExist` on completion. `Message` is always `String.Empty`. Any directory or password-policy failure never reaches this return — it escapes as a framework SOAP fault instead. |

## WebMethod attributes

`<WebMethod()>` — bare, no arguments supplied.

## Steps

1. `CheckAccess()`; on denial return `AccessDenied()` ([BR-01](../business-rules.md#br-01-mutating-and-password-operations-require-an-approved-caller)).
2. Call the private helper H6 `ChangePassword(inUserId, inNewPassword)` with **no exception handling** ([BR-25](../business-rules.md#br-25-a-password-change-is-applied-via-setpassword-and-committed), [BR-26](../business-rules.md#br-26-two-password-change-variants-differ-only-in-error-strategy)).
   - H6 selects the external domain via H1, resolves the user with `UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity` directly (returning `UserDoesNotExist` when `Nothing`), and otherwise invokes `SetPassword` on the underlying `DirectoryEntry` (late-bound) followed by `CommitChanges()`. H6 itself contains no `Catch`.
3. Return a new `ADServiceResponse` with `Message = String.Empty` and `Response` set to H6's result.

This is the deliberate faulting variant by design: unlike [ChangeUserPassword](change-user-password.md), no `Try`/`Catch` exists anywhere in this operation.

## Process flow

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    A["Call ChangeUserPasswordOrGetException"] --> B{"CheckAccess<br>HasAccess?"}
    B -->|"No"| C["Return AccessDenied"]
    B -->|"Yes"| D["Call H6 ChangePassword<br>no Try/Catch"]
    D --> E["H6: FindByIdentity<br>external domain"]
    E -->|"Nothing"| F["H6 returns UserDoesNotExist"]
    E -->|"Found"| G["H6: SetPassword + CommitChanges"]
    F --> H["Return ADServiceResponse<br>Message = empty"]
    G --> H
    D -.->|"Any exception<br>from H6 or context"| I["Propagates as<br>framework SOAP fault"]
```

## Shared state effects

None — this operation touches no process-wide state; all locals are per-request.

## Error handling

Any directory or password-policy failure inside H6 (or in the underlying context construction) surfaces as a framework SOAP fault carrying the raw .NET exception — there is no operation-level `Try`/`Catch` at any point. This operation and [ChangeUserPassword](change-user-password.md) are near-duplicates differing only in error strategy (tech debt TD-24 — see [Tech debt](../tech-debt.md)); the operation name does not make this difference discoverable from the WSDL. On success the caller receives `Response = Success` with an empty message; when the user is absent the caller receives `Response = UserDoesNotExist` before any write. See [Faults](../faults.md) for the service-wide fault model.

## Authorization

Gated by [BR-01](../business-rules.md#br-01-mutating-and-password-operations-require-an-approved-caller): the caller must pass the IP allow-list check enforced by `CheckAccess`. See [Authentication and authorization](../authentication-authorization.md).

## Related documentation
- [Service index](../index.md)
- [Overview](../overview.md)
- [Architecture](../architecture.md)
- [Activation and hosting](../activation-hosting.md)
- [Operations](../operations.md)
- [Operations and processes](../operations-processes.md)
- [Business rules](../business-rules.md)
- [Authentication and authorization](../authentication-authorization.md)
- [Configuration](../configuration.md)
- [Dependencies](../dependencies.md)
- [Faults](../faults.md)
- [Operational runbook](../operational-runbook.md)
- [Tech debt](../tech-debt.md)

## Sources
- `src\ADUserServices\clsADUserServices.asmx.vb` (lines 493-501, helper `ChangePassword` lines 503-524)