Retrieve or Decrypt Password of an application pool in IIS 8.5 or 8.0 or 7.5 or 7.0

If you have lost or forgot the password of an application pool identity on IIS, there is a very easy way in order to retrieve it.

The following procedure can be used on a server with IIS 8.5 or IIS 8.0 or IIS 7.5 or IIS 7.0.

1. Locate the application pool name from IIS Manager,
iis-app-pool-password-1

2. Run command prompt as Administrator

3. Change path to: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv>

4. Enter the command: appcmd list apppool "apps" /text:*
note: “apps” is the application pool name in this example
iis-app-pool-password-2

5. Now you have the password, because it is stored in clear text. Remember to grant least privileges to these accounts, because the password can be easily retrieved.