Using password policy can enhance password’s security. It requires users to set password length, password age, password history, etc. Via password policy, you can set a more complicated password that’s hard to be guessed or cracked.

In this article, we will guide you to Set Password Policy on Windows server 2019.

Step 1: Press “Win” + “R” key to open “Run” window. Type in: secpol.msc then click “OK”.

Step 2: After you open “Local Security Policy”, select them in order: “Security Settings” > “Account Policies” > “Password Policy”.

Step 3: In the right pane, double click any policy and change the setting according to your needs.

Explanation of Setting Each Password Policy

Password Must Meet Complexity Requirements

Requirements as below:

1. More than two contiguous characters from user name cannot be contained in password.

2. Be at least six characters in length and three of following four types of character need to be included in password.

• English uppercase characters (A through Z)

• English lowercase characters (a through z)

• Base 10 digits (0 through 9)

• Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %)

Minimum Password Length

The longer the password, the safer it will be. A password should at least contain the minimum number of characters for a user account.

Minimum Password Age

This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a password must be used before the user can change it. For example, if you set 10 days, then your password can be changed after 10 days. Besides, password can be changed anytime if the minimum password age is set to be 0.

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. For example, if you set 90 days, your password will expire in 90 days then system will require you to change it. But the password will not expire if the maximum password age is set to 0.

Enforce Password History

This security setting determines the number of unique new passwords that have to be associated with a user account before an old password can be reused. It can ensure the old passwords are not reused continually. For example, if you keep 9 passwords remembered, then you need to change new passwords nine times before an old password can be reused.

Store Passwords Using Reversible Encryption

This security setting determines whether the operating system stores passwords using reversible encryption. If this policy is enabled, some bad guys may easily crack the password and access users’ PCs. It’s suggested to disable it unless application requirements are more important than the protection of password information.

Conclusion

So we have guided you through the steps set Password Policy on Windows server 2019 this will help increase security on your VPS.