DOCUMENT:Q102529  18-AUG-1993  [W_NT]
TITLE   :Changing a User's Password to One Already in Use
PRODUCT :Windows NT
PROD/VER:3.10
OPER/SYS:WINDOWS
KEYWORDS:

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Windows NT operating system, version 3.1
 - Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server, version 3.1
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SYMPTOMS
========

You can change a user's password to one that is already used. (See
"Steps to Reproduce Behavior," below.)

CAUSE
=====

The Password Uniqueness feature allows administrators to force users
to change passwords regularly and not to use the same password over
and over. It is up to the administrator to decide how to use Password
Uniqueness and when to override it and reset a user's password.

A user's password history is not remembered when Password Uniqueness
is set. By design, password history does not apply when an
administrator is setting a user's password--only when users are
changing their own passwords.

(Under LAN Manager 2.x, you can do the same thing by changing the
Password Uniqueness setting to zero, resetting the user's password,
then returning Password Uniqueness to its previous value.)

STATUS
======

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
---------------------------

1. Start the Windows NT User Manager.

2. In the Policies dialog box, choose Account.

3. Set the Password Uniqueness value to a number such as 2.

4. Close the dialog box.

5. From the User menu, choose New User.

6. In the Username box, type a username (for example, User1).

7. Give User1 a password (for instance, Pass1). Close the dialog box.

8. In the main user list, double-click User1. In the Password and
   Confirm Password boxes, enter the same password you used in step 7.

9. Close the dialog box.

Note that you changed the user's password to one that was already
used.

NOTE: This behavior occurs in the Windows NT Advanced Server User
Manager as well.

Additional reference words: 3.10
KBCategory:
KBSubCategory: scrty

=============================================================================

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