Guide: How to Set Minimum Password Length in Windows 10 PC
Microsoft’s suite of software and online services comes with a minimum password length requirement. Some of them even require the inclusion of special characters. Windows 10 has a number of guidelines, but they don’t apply to local user accounts. Yes, you can also create a local user account without a password. However, it is risky. Therefore, we recommend that you set the minimum password length for your user account on your Windows 10 computer. Let’s take a look at how to first enforce a required minimum password length for local user accounts in Windows 10. Then we’ll figure out why you need to do it. Let’s start.
Why you need a minimum password length for local user accounts
The short answer is privacy and security. I bet you know that. By creating a local user account on the same computer, you can access Windows offline without the need for a Microsoft account. Local user accounts are local and do not require an internet connection to enable access. That means that account settings are not synced across devices and everything stays offline. Some users prefer it. You can still sign in to Windows apps and services, but without using a Microsoft account on Windows 10. By default, Microsoft has not added a minimum password length policy to local user accounts. You can enable that option, but it is hidden deep in the Registry Editor and Group Policy Editor.
Anyone with access to your computer can easily switch to this local user account and access every nook and cranny of the hard drive. You don’t want that. You may want to keep everything offline and not be linked to a Microsoft account for a variety of reasons. But there are also offline threats. Whether you are there home Whether in an office or cafe, anyone can physically access your computer and ruin your life. Using a password fixes that, but people often use stupid passwords. Some popular examples of ‘dumb password’ are date of birth, house or license plate numbers, and even 1234. That’s where password length can come in handy. Forcing users to use a password that is longer is always better. The FBI recommends that longer passwords, even with simple letters / numbers, are better than short passwords with special characters.
The idea is simple but logical. A longer password offers more possible combinations, making it harder to crack, but easier to remember. That’s because it takes more computing power and therefore more time to crack a longer password. And there is academic research to support this theory.
1. Set the minimum password length using CMD
This method is for Windows 10 Home users. Find and open Command Prompt (CMD) with administrator rights from the Start menu.
Here is the command to increase the required minimum password length. Replace the “PassLength” text below with the minimum number of characters you want to use in the new password and press Enter. net accounts / minpwlen: PassLength Do you want to check if the command worked? One way is to create a new local account and set a password whose length is shorter than the set length. Another way is to issue the command below in CMD. net accounts
Among other things, you should see the prescribed minimum password length here. That is it. A local account now requires a password with a minimum length. To remove the required minimum password length, issue the command below. net accounts / minpwlen: 0
2. Set the minimum password length using the Group Policy Editor
This method is suitable for Windows Pro and Enterprise users who have access to the GPE or Group Policy Editor. GPE comes with a GUI or graphical user interface, which allows you to make changes at the system level without messing around with commands. Still, caution is advised because things can go wrong. I would recommend taking a backup or create a restore point before continuing. If you work in an enterprise and have an IT administrator, please contact him / her for more details as domain policies take precedence over your system policies. Search for gpedit.msc in the Windows Start menu and open it.
Zoom in on the folder structure below. Computer Configuration Windows Settings Security Settings Account Policy Password Policy
Double-click the Minimum password length policy file to open it. You will see there are 21 characters on the right side, which we set in CMD in the step above. Note: Entering the value as 0 (zero) means that no password is required for a local user account.
Enter the new value for the minimum password length in characters, click Apply and OK to save everything. Do you want the best of both worlds? You can force users to include special characters in their passwords. You can also force them to change their passwords every X days. Double-click to open the “Password must meet complexity requirements policy” option.
Select Enable and save all. These are the criteria enforced through this policy: To force the user to change the password every X days, double-click to open the Maximum password age policy file.
Enter the number of days after which the user will be prompted to change their local user account password. These extra checks are there to improve security, but it can become painful to remember new passwords. It can be a bit too much, especially for older people who find it challenging to work with computers and remember passwords. So set a favorable number, such as 45 days or 90 days.
Maximum security measures
Set the criteria for the minimum password length carefully. You may want to strike a balance between convenience, usability, and security. Much depends on where you work, the technical skills of users working on these computers, and how much you want to protect what’s on that hard drive / SSD. Sharing the computer with someone in your family can get annoying. Fortunately, Microsoft has recently made things very flexible by giving administrators more control over how different aspects of local and online accounts are managed. The next up: Accidentally deleted an administrator account in Windows 10? Click on the link below to learn how to restore the deleted administrator account. Better yet, learn how to avoid that situation altogether.
How to Set Minimum Password Length in Windows 10 PC: benefits
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