Error Message: The Password of This User Is Too Recent to Change

• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release versions 1, 2, 2.1, 2.5
• Microsoft Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

When you try to change your password for the Microsoft Client for Microsoft Networks, you may receive the following error message:

The password of this user is too recent to change.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur for any of the following reasons:

• The existing password must remain in place for a minimum number of days. This minimum number of days is a feature of Microsoft Windows NT and can be set using the User Manager tool in Windows NT.



• Strong passwords are required by the Windows NT server. Attempting to change the password to a password that does not qualify as a strong password generates the error message. Strong passwords must meet the following requirements:
  
  - Passwords must be at least six characters long.
  
  - Passwords must contain characters from at least three of the following four classes:
  
  

  
           Description                             Examples
           ------------------------------------------------------
           English uppercase letters               A B C ... Z
           English lowercase letters               a b c ... z
           Westernized Arabic numerals             0 1 2 ... 9
           Non-alphanumeric (special) characters   , . ? 

  
  
  - Passwords may not contain your user name or any part of your full name.

STATUS

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about strong passwords and how to enable them, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: Q161990
TITLE : How to Enable Strong Password Functionality in Windows NT

Keywords          : kbenv kberrmsg kbnetwork 
Version           : WINDOWS:95,98
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: February 1, 1999