Changing the SharePoint 2007 farm account password

When you first configure SharePoint 2007 and it's associated Shared Services Provider on a server, you specify a username and password in several places.  You will see this informally called the "farm account".  If this password ever gets changed, there are a few hoops you need to jump through in order for SharePoint to continue to function.  This page demonstrates the different steps to accomplish this.  I'll summarize here:

stsadm -o updatefarmcredentials -userlogin DOMAIN\USERNAME -password THEPASSWORD

iisreset /noforce

stsadm -o updateaccountpassword -userlogin DOMAIN\USERNAME -password THEPASSWORD –noadmin

stsadm -o spsearch -farmserviceaccount DOMAIN\USERNAME -farmservicepassword THEPASSWORD

stsadm -o spsearch -farmcontentaccessaccount DOMAIN\USERNAME -farmcontentaccesspassword THEPASSWORD

stsadm -o osearch -farmserviceaccount DOMAIN\USERNAME -farmservicepassword THEPASSWORD

stsadm -o editssp -title SharedServicesProviderName -ssplogin DOMAIN\USERNAME -ssppassword THEPASSWORD

iisreset /noforce

Go to the Shared Services Provider page, Search Settings, and click on the Default content access account.  Change the password here.