How to Fix: Windows 10 Disable Password Expiration

Infopackets Reader Sean S. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I own three Windows 10 PC's at home - my own PC, my wife's laptop and my son's laptop. Each laptop is set up to access my main PC using network shared folders (I have the same user names and passwords also set up on my main machine to create a password protected share). Recently my wife tried to access a shared folder on my PC but now receives an error 'the password of this user has expired'. The same day I also received an error message on my Windows 10 login screen that 'the password for this account has expired' and I need to reset it. Is there a way to disable the Windows 10 password expiration so I don't have to keep resetting passwords? We did not have this issue before in Windows 7 so I am at a loss as to why this is happening. "

My response:

The Windows 10 password expiration seems to be a new security policy that has rolled out recently - perhaps as part of a Windows Update - as I have been running Windows 10 since it first came out, and have not had this issue up until a few weeks ago. Using shared folders the way you describe (which is the same way I have mine set up) can be a nightmare if the passwords on both the client and server don't match and you are continually being badgered to change your password!

That said, it is possible to disable the Windows 10 password expiration for all accounts on your PC using a single command, or you can disable the password expiration on a per-account basis.

How to Fix: Windows 10 Disable Password Expiration

There are a few ways to go about fixing this issue, with the one below being the easiest:

1. If you want to disable the password expiration feature for all users on the machine, do the following:
   
   Click Start, then type in "cmd" (no quotes); wait for CMD.EXE or Command Prompt to appear in the list, then right click it and select "Run as Administrator". Next, highlight the text below with your mouse:
   
   wmic UserAccount set PasswordExpires=False
   echo this is a dummy line
   
   Right click over top of the highlighted text above, then select "Copy" from the dialogue menu. Go back to the command prompt you just opened up and right click in the middle of the window and select "Paste" from the dialogue menu. The text you copied above should now be output to the command line and you should see something along the lines of "Updating property(s) of ... ,Name=UserName ..." on the screen - meaning that all accounts on the system have been updated so the Windows 10 password expiration has been disabled.
   
   Important: if you have a network folder share set up like Sean where a main PC hosts user accounts with passwords for the purpose of password protected file sharing, you will want to disable password expiration on the server and client PCs so that the passwords always match - otherwise the passwords will be out of sync, which means access will be denied to the shared folders.
    
2. Continuing on with the above example, you can also specify a specific set of user accounts to not have expired passwords (rather than all of them). This a bit more work than the above option because you have to copy and paste commands using Notepad and the command line.
   
   To do so: open up an administrative command prompt as discussed in Step #1 above. Now, type in "net users" (no quotes) in the command prompt and press Enter on the keyboard. A list of user names for the computer will be output. Next, copy and paste the text below into Notepad for as many user names you want to modify:
   
   wmic UserAccount where Name='username' set PasswordExpires=False
   
   Using the above as an example, I can set "Jane" and "John" accounts so their passwords never expire:
   
   wmic UserAccount where Name='Jane' set PasswordExpires=False
   wmic UserAccount where Name='John' set PasswordExpires=False
   
   Once you have the list set up in Notepad, copy the text to your clipboard (select all text, right click the text, select copy), then right click the command line and select "Paste", and press Enter to execute.
    
3. This next method is similar to Step #2 above where we can select multiple users to not have expired passwords - but instead uses a graphical user interface (GUI) rather than Notepad and a command prompt. As noted in the comments section, the following method (lusrmgr.msc) only works if you have Windows 10 Pro.
   
   To get started, click Start, then type in "Lusrmgr.msc"; when the "lusrmgr" icon appears in the list, click it. The "Lusrmgr - [Local Users and Groups (Local)]" window will appear, split in two main sections. On the left side of the window under the heading "Local users and Groups (Local)", click the "Users" folder. You should now see a list of user accounts on the system. Double click each account you want to disable the password expiration for, then un-check 'User must change password at next logon' if it is check marked, and also check mark 'Password never expires'. Repeat the steps for any users you want to disable the Windows 10 password expiration. When complete, close the Lusrmgr window and you're done!

I hope that helps.

Additional 1-on-1 Support: From Dennis

If all of this is over your head or if you even need help setting up shared folders on a network - I can help using my remote desktop support service. Simply contact me, briefly describing the issue and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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About the author: Dennis Faas is the owner and operator of Infopackets.com. With over 30 years of computing experience, Dennis' areas of expertise are a broad range and include PC hardware, Microsoft Windows, Linux, network administration, and virtualization. Dennis holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science (1999) and has authored 6 books on the topics of MS Windows and PC Security. If you like the advice you received on this page, please up-vote / Like this page and share it with friends. For technical support inquiries, Dennis can be reached via Live chat online this site using the Zopim Chat service (currently located at the bottom left of the screen); optionally, you can contact Dennis through the website contact form.