How to Enable or Disable Password Expiration in Windows 11, With Windows‘ password expiration feature, you can set a maximum age for when user accounts’ passwords will stop working. This feature is turned off by default for all users, and only the Pro, Education, and Enterprise versions of Windows 10 and 11 have it.
Both local users and Microsoft accounts can have their passwords set to expire at a certain time. But the steps to do this are different for each type of account. So, these are the three ways you can set your Windows account passwords to expire or not.
How to Enable or Disable Password Expiration in Windows 11
Via Microsoft Account
- Launch your browser, head to Microsoft’s Security page, and log in to your account.
- Click on Password security to change your password
- You will need to enter your current password, create a new one and re-enter it to confirm.
- Then, check the Make me change my password every 72 days box.
- Finally, click Save to confirm the changes.
Via the Command Prompt
- Click on the Search icon on your taskbar, type cmd, and select the option to Run as administrator.
- Key in the following command and press Enter to see all the users registered on your device: net accounts
- Then, to enable password expiration key in the following command and press Enter: wmic UserAccount where Name=”user name” set PasswordExpires=True
Why You Should Enable Password Expiration in Windows 11
- Password expiration helps to prevent unauthorized changes to your system settings or personal data by someone who has access to your PC.
- It protects your PC from hackers who might compromise your password, especially if your account is inactive or expired.
- It safeguards your privacy by making your password harder to crack, especially if you use the same password for multiple accounts.
FAQs
To do so, select Start, select Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then select OK. In the right pane, select the DisablePasswordChange entry. On the Edit menu, select Modify. In the Value data box, type a value of 1, and then select OK.
This issue can occur if the Logon network security setting on the Security tab of the Microsoft Exchange dialog box is set to a value other than Anonymous Authentication.
Use the chage command to set the expiry date for an account. This setting defines a given date, after which a user account is locked and inaccessible. You can do this with the –expiredate ( -E for short) option.
