- Apr 25, 2013
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No matter where you are using your Windows 10 computer it is always a good idea to secure your account with a strong password. If you are using a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows 10, you already have a password.
However, you cannot expect to have all the users sharing your computer to use a Microsoft account to sign in. In such a scenario, you may want to force users to secure their local account with a password.
When you make passwords mandatory for user accounts, as an administrator, whenever you create a new account, you are prompted to provide a password during the account creation process. If a user tries to change their password, they can’t simply leave the field blank.
When making a password mandatory for Windows 10 user accounts, you can also define the minimum number of characters a password must have. All these settings can be configured from the Local Group Policy Editor snap-in. Here is how:
After aforementioned policy is applied, Windows will ask administrators to specify a password while creating new user accounts. In case of the existing users, you can follow the below steps to enforce users to define a password for their account:
Note: As users log on to Windows 10 for the first time after you have configured this setting, they will be prompted to change their password.
However, you cannot expect to have all the users sharing your computer to use a Microsoft account to sign in. In such a scenario, you may want to force users to secure their local account with a password.
When you make passwords mandatory for user accounts, as an administrator, whenever you create a new account, you are prompted to provide a password during the account creation process. If a user tries to change their password, they can’t simply leave the field blank.
When making a password mandatory for Windows 10 user accounts, you can also define the minimum number of characters a password must have. All these settings can be configured from the Local Group Policy Editor snap-in. Here is how:
- ■Log on to Windows 10 using an administrator account.
■Right-click the Start button when on the desktop window.
■Click Run from the context menu.
■In the Run command box, type GPEDIT.MSC and click OK.
■When the Local Group Policy Editor snap-in opens up, from the left pane, expand Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies.
■From the expanded list, click to select the Password Policy container.
■From the right pane, double-click the Minimum password length policy.
■When the Minimum password length Properties box opens, increase the numeric value in the Password must be at least box.
Note: The numeric value specified here would define the minimum number of characters the passwords must have. By default, the value is set to 0 which means the password can be left blank.
■Click OK when done and close the Local Group Policy Editor snap-in.
■Restart the PC.
After aforementioned policy is applied, Windows will ask administrators to specify a password while creating new user accounts. In case of the existing users, you can follow the below steps to enforce users to define a password for their account:
- ■On the desktop screen, right-click the Start button again.
■Click Computer Management this time.
■From the left pane of the Computer Management snap-in, expand Local Users and Groups.
■Click to select the Users container from the displayed tree.
■From the right pane, right-click the user account that you want to have a password.
■Click Properties from the context menu.
■When the user’s properties box opens, ensure that you are on the General tab.
■On the displayed interface, check the User must change password at next logon checkbox.
■Click OK and repeat the above steps for all the existing user accounts.
Note: As users log on to Windows 10 for the first time after you have configured this setting, they will be prompted to change their password.
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