Password Policy: Minimum Password Age

Configuring Vista Password Policy Settings

Minimum Password Age determines the period of time (in days) that a password must be used before the user can change it. You can set a value between 1 and 998 days, or you can allow changes immediately by setting the number of days to 0.

The Minimum Password Age setting must be lower than the Maximum Password Age, unless the Maximum Password Age is set to 0 (zero), or never expire. If the Maximum Password Age is set to 0, the Minimum Password Age can be set to any value between 0 and 998.

Minimum Password Age is useful in conjunction with Enforce Password History to prevent users from simply entering new passwords repeatedly to bypass Enforce Password History and reuse their current password.

Defaults:

• 1 on domain controllers.
• 0 on stand-alone servers.

Note: By default, PC's on a network domain follow the configuration of their domain controllers.