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What Is & How to Set Up Domain Password Policy

An in-depth guide on everything about domain password policy

4 min. read

Updated onAugust 5, 2024

updated onAugust 5, 2024

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A password policy ensures that a user hascreated a strong password, which is less prone to cyber-attacks or impossible for hackers to crack down. ADomain Password Policyneeds to be set up in theActive Directoryto keep all theuser accounts safe and secure. Well, there’s more to it.

This guide will explain the domain password policy and how to set it up. There are several aspects to keep in mind when setting up a domain password policy for user accounts, which we will cover right away.

What is the domain password policy?

The Active Directory (AD) is configured with a default domain password policy. This policy defines the password requirements for users’ accounts such as the password length, age, and so on.

So, basically, the complexity of the password is what the domain password policy determines and enforces users to follow the same guidelines.

A domain password policy is an Active Directory feature that forces all users to follow a set security policy to access the domain and its assets. Password policies are associated with the domain and can be tweaked using group policy.

There are six password policies that you can configure:

How to set up a domain password policy?

1. Use PowerShell

2. Use Group Policy Management

What other tools to use for password settings?

Apart from the default Windows password policies, you can use third-party tools to enhance the level of policies further and customize the Active Directory’s domain password policy, as per your business’s needs.

1. Password Audits

To avoid attacks on large password depositories, you can perform regular password audits to ensure that all your passwords are safe and secure.

For this purpose, we would suggest you make use ofManageEngine’s ADAudit Plus tool. It has a plethora of features among which some of the best are listed below:

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

2. Password policy enforcement

ManageEngine also offers another third-party tool to help you with the password policy enforcement task. We recommend using theManageEngine ADSelfService Plustool.

This package is available for Windows Server, Azure, and AWS platforms. It helps you create a single sign-on portal that enables users to access all of your domain’s apps and services with a single password.

Some of thebest features of the ManageEngine ADSelfService Plustool are:

ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus

With Microsoft Teams, you can also configure it to beHIPAA compliantespecially, if you’re dealing with sensitive data.

Feel free to let us know in the comments below if this guide helped you understand the domain password policy and how you can set it up on your PC.

What Is & How to Set Up Domain Password Policy#

What is the domain password policy?#

How to set up a domain password policy?#

1. Use PowerShell#

2. Use Group Policy Management#

What other tools to use for password settings?#

1. Password Audits#

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus#

2. Password policy enforcement#

ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus#