Difference between PDI Instance admin account and local admin account in PDI

[JMoxy]

When I load my PDI I go to https://developer.servicenow.com,

and log in to my account.  If I look at "Manage Instance Password" under My Account, I see that there is an admin account with a password.  When I click on Start Building, sometimes I get a login for ServiceNow and I use the Instance admin account and password.

After launching my Instance, I am logged in under the admin account.  I look at sys_user table and I see the admin account.

Are these 2 accounts the same ?  If I go to https://developer.servicenow.com/login.do

 can I login to the admin account from here ?  Is the admin password the same as the once shown under Manage Instance Password ?

Thanks in advance - just trying to understand these admin accounts

[Jan Rijk]

Yes it is. Try it and you’ll see that it works.

[NavyaMasapu]

Hello @JMoxy ,

Good Day!

When you request a Personal Developer Instance (PDI) from developer.servicenow.com, you’re essentially dealing with two different logins:

1. Developer Site Account:

   This is your login for developer.servicenow.com, where you request, manage, and start your instance. This uses your own email and chosen password.

2. Instance Admin Account:

   Once your instance is created, you’ll be given an admin user account (usually just admin) with a system-generated password. This account is used to log into your PDI instance (like https://dev12345.service-now.com) and perform admin tasks inside ServiceNow.

The admin password shown under “Manage Instance Password” is only for the instance admin account, not your developer portal login.

You cannot use the instance admin credentials to log in to https://developer.servicenow.com/login.do. That login is only for your developer site account.

So yes, they are separate accounts serving different purposes. Hope this clears things up!

Please Mark Helpful if this helped. Thankyou!

[GlideFather]

It is the same. To verify it, you can try to replace their profile picture (right upper corner > Profile > perhaps it needs to go to Default view or do it in a list view on sys_user) and then access it again and the picture will be the new one...

I usually go from https://developer.servicenow.com/ because I never remember a password for my PDI to log using /login.do and am lazy to search for it 😄 while the ServiceNow SSO is already saved, so it is easier for me. 

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @JMoxy 

Yes, both are the same account.

In the first case, it uses the instance password stored from the Developer Site, allowing login without prompting for a password.

However, if you change the password and then try the first method again, the login will fail — since the stored credentials no longer match.