Cannot Remove User Logon Passwords

[Guest]

Two out of four users on my computer has their accounts set up with
passwords. They now want to remove them, but every time they try to do it,
an error message "Windows cannot remove the password. Password and/or
account policies require the account to have a password" appears. I scoured
all of the settings in the Account and Password Settings, and nothing seems
to be set to require passwords for these, or any other of the user accounts.
Any ideas?

 

[Steven L Umbach]

An easy way would be to run the command "net accounts" to see what shows for
minimum password length. If it shows more than zero then it sound like a
password policy us being enforced. For XP Pro look in Local Security Policy
[secpol.msc] and then look under account policies/password policy for
password policy that you should be able to change assuming you are logged on
as a local administrator and this computer is not a member of an Active
Directory domain. The net accounts command can be used on computers that do
not have Local Security Policy. Enter net help accounts for the built in
help for that command.

Steve

 

[Guest]

That was indeed the problem - the minimum password length was set to 6
characters. I had no idea that could prevent me from removing existiing user
account passwords, particularly since two of the current users did not have
password protected accounts. It would seem logical that you could enforce a
minimum password length for those users that choose have a password. But
that should not prevent those same users from deciding to change their
account to eliminate the password at some point in the future, without having
to throw out the minimum password length policy for the remaining accounts
that still wish maintain their passwords. Oh well, at least my problem is
taken care of now. Thanks for the help.

An easy way would be to run the command "net accounts" to see what shows for
minimum password length. If it shows more than zero then it sound like a
password policy us being enforced. For XP Pro look in Local Security Policy
[secpol.msc] and then look under account policies/password policy for
password policy that you should be able to change assuming you are logged on
as a local administrator and this computer is not a member of an Active
Directory domain. The net accounts command can be used on computers that do
not have Local Security Policy. Enter net help accounts for the built in
help for that command.

Steve

Two out of four users on my computer has their accounts set up with
passwords. They now want to remove them, but every time they try to do
it,
an error message "Windows cannot remove the password. Password and/or
account policies require the account to have a password" appears. I
scoured
all of the settings in the Account and Password Settings, and nothing
seems
to be set to require passwords for these, or any other of the user
accounts.
Any ideas?

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Glad you got it resolved. It sounds like the other user accounts may have
been created before password minimum length was enforced or possibly their
accounts were created via the command line with the net user account command
that I believe can bypass minimum password length when creating user
accounts.

Steve

That was indeed the problem - the minimum password length was set to 6
characters. I had no idea that could prevent me from removing existiing
user
account passwords, particularly since two of the current users did not
have
password protected accounts. It would seem logical that you could enforce
a
minimum password length for those users that choose have a password. But
that should not prevent those same users from deciding to change their
account to eliminate the password at some point in the future, without
having
to throw out the minimum password length policy for the remaining accounts
that still wish maintain their passwords. Oh well, at least my problem is
taken care of now. Thanks for the help.

An easy way would be to run the command "net accounts" to see what shows
for
minimum password length. If it shows more than zero then it sound like a
password policy us being enforced. For XP Pro look in Local Security
Policy
[secpol.msc] and then look under account policies/password policy for
password policy that you should be able to change assuming you are logged
on
as a local administrator and this computer is not a member of an Active
Directory domain. The net accounts command can be used on computers that
do
not have Local Security Policy. Enter net help accounts for the built in
help for that command.

Steve


message

Two out of four users on my computer has their accounts set up with
passwords. They now want to remove them, but every time they try to do
it,
an error message "Windows cannot remove the password. Password and/or
account policies require the account to have a password" appears. I
scoured
all of the settings in the Account and Password Settings, and nothing
seems
to be set to require passwords for these, or any other of the user
accounts.
Any ideas?