# What Is the cloudbase-init Account in Windows ECSs Used for?

#### Description

In Windows ECSs, cloudbase-init is the default account of the Cloudbase-Init agent program. It is used to obtain the metadata and execute configurations when the ECS starts.

This account is unavailable on Linux ECSs.

Do not modify or delete this account or uninstall the Cloudbase-Init agent program. Otherwise, you will be unable to insert data to initialize an ECS created using a Windows private image.

#### Security Hardening for Randomized cloudbase-init Passwords

In Cloudbase-Init 0.9.10, the security of randomized cloudbase-init passwords has been hardened to ensure that the hash values (LM-HASH and NTLM-HASH) of the passwords are different.

In Windows, the hash passwords are in the format of "Username:RID:LM-HASH value:NT-HASH value".

For example, in "Administrator:500:C8825DB10F2590EAAAD3B435B51404EE:683020925C5D8569C23AA724774CE9CC:::",

- Username: Administrator
- RID: 500
- LM-HASH value: C8825DB10F2590EAAAD3B435B51404EE
- NT-HASH value: 683020925C5D8569C23AA724774CE9CC

Use an image to create two ECSs, ecs01 and ecs02. Then, verify that the hash values of the cloudbase-init account for the two ECSs are different.

- LM-HASH and NTLM-HASH values of the cloudbase-init account for ecs01
  Figure 1 ecs01
- LM-HASH and NTLM-HASH values of the cloudbase-init account for ecs02
  Figure 2 ecs02

Parent topic: Passwords and Key Pairs