How do I change the password policy?

Out of the box, Windows Home Server has 3 strengths to the User Accounts Password Policy.

• Weak - Any password is allowed
• Medium - Password must be of 5 or more characters.
• Strong - Password must be of 7 or more characters. Password complexity is required.

The Administrator account must be a Strong password.

Registry Change

These settings are easily changed, should you wish to do so, and just require a simple change to the Windows Registry.

These values are stored as Registry keys, under HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows Home Server\User Manager\Policies, and the subkeys, 1, 2 and 3.

Inside each key, you will see a Binary Value name MinLength, and each value corresponds to the Password policy above. By changing these values, you will be able to increase or even decrease the minimum length. You will also be able to set the Administrator account to a blank password should you wish, but make any of the changes above at your own risk.