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Vista Password Expiration Configuration

Can I change the Expiration Interval for Vista Logon Passwords?

The Default interval for logon passwords to expire in Vista is 42 days.

You can select anything between 1 and 999 days between expirations. If you select 0 (zero) the logon password will never expire, though you may manually change it at any time.

This is what the Windows Vista Security Setting says:

Maximum password age

This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a password can be used before the system requires the user to change it. You can set passwords to expire after a number of days between 1 and 999, or you can specify that passwords never expire by setting the number of days to 0. If the maximum password age is between 1 and 999 days, the Minimum password age must be less than the maximum password age. If the maximum password age is set to 0, the minimum password age can be any value between 0 and 998 days.

Note: It is a security best practice to have passwords expire every 30 to 90 days, depending on your environment. This way, an attacker has a limited amount of time in which to crack a user's password and have access to your network resources.

Default: 42.

How to Change the Expiration Interval

1. Click Start
2. Select Settings
3. Select Control Panel
4. Select System and Maintenance
5. Double Click on Administrative Tools
6. Double Click on Local Security Policy (grant permission)
7. On the Left panel, under Security Settings, click the little arrow next to Account Policies, to drop down and view the folder options.
8. Click on the Password Policy folder
9. On the right panel, RIGHT-CLICK on Maximum password age
10. Select Properties
11. Under the Local Security Setting Tab, Find Password will expire in: (Select number of days between expirations)
12. Click Apply
13. Click OK
14. Click the red X's to close all the windows properly.

Note: There are other options of interest in the Password Policy area:

1. Enforce Password History - This tells Vista how many unique passwords can be used before they repeat.
2. Password must meet complexity requirements - useful for unattended computers that are in publicly accessible areas.

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Category: Operating Systems : Windows Vista - Enterprise     Platform: Windows Vista
Document #: 1034     Author: Cynthia Senicka    
Last Modified by: Joshua Moor on 05/20/2008