Configure password expiration in Windows

This article shows you how to configure password expiration in Microsoft® Windows®. Keep the following details in mind:

• If your password is configured to expire, which is the default setting, the password expires 42 days after you set the password. Notifications of the pending password expiration begin five days before it is scheduled to expire.
• In Windows 10, 8, and 8.1, the Local Users and Groups is available only in the Professional and Enterprise editions.
• In Windows 7, the Local Users and Groups setting is available in only the Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions.

Methods

Warning: While setting your password to never expire is much simpler to deal with than resetting your password, remember that this introduces a significant security risk. You should always cycle your passwords to minimize the chance of a hacking attempt.

Use one of the following methods to configure the password settings.

Option 1: Local Users and Groups

1. Click Start and then click Run. You can also hit the Windows Key + R to bring up the run command.
2. Type lusrmgr.msc and press enter to bring up the Local User Manager.
3. Click on the Users folder to display the list of users. Locate the user you want to edit.
4. Right-click the user and select Properties.
5. In the General tab, check the box that states Password never expires to have the password never expire for that user. Leave the box unchecked to retain the default expiration setting of 42 days.

Option 2: Command prompt

Note: All editions of Windows 7 and 8 have this method available.

1. Click Start and then click run. You can also use Windows Key + R to bring up the run command.

2. Type cmd in the run box and press Enter to bring up the command prompt. You can also click Start and type in cmd. When you see the command prompt program on the left-hand side of the screen, you can launch the program as an Administrator, if you want to.

3. To turn on password expiration on Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, type the following command and press Enter:

   wmic path Win32_UserAccount where Name='username' set PasswordExpires=true
   

4. To turn off password expiration on Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, type the following command and press Enter:

   wmic path Win32_UserAccount where Name='username' set PasswordExpires=false
   

For this method, make sure to replace the username in the command with the actual user account name.