Configuring AD password policies

Passwords are essential for security as they help ensure that a person is who they say they are and thus are allowed to perform some action such as logging on to a host or editing a file. Password policies allow you to define your password attributes, including minimum length and whether complex passwords are required. You can also set the number of times a user enters an invalid password before that user is locked out (and a lockout duration). For more details on improving authentication security, see https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2224364&seqNum=2.

In AD, you can apply a default domain password policy. This policy applies to all users in the domain. In most cases, this is adequate for the organization. But in some cases, you may wish to apply a more stringent password policy to certain users or groups of users. You use AD's fine-grained password policy to manage these more restrictive passwords. A "fine...