Maximum Password Age
How often users must change passwords. NIST now recommends against routine expiration.
- Policy path
- Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Password Policy
- Supported on
- Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016 and later
How often users must change passwords. NIST now recommends against routine expiration. Security baselines recommend setting it to Never (with MFA) or 365 days.
Description
Maximum Password Age is a Windows Group Policy setting located under Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Password Policy. It applies to the Computer Configuration branch and is classified as a Informational-level policy in the Account Policy category.
How often users must change passwords. NIST now recommends against routine expiration.
Microsoft sets the default value to 42 days while industry security baselines (CIS, NIST, DISA STIG) recommend Never (with MFA) or 365 days.
In-depth explanation
This is primarily an operational or user-experience setting. It does not directly raise or lower the security posture, but it standardizes behavior across the fleet, which is important for predictable support, training, and troubleshooting in an MSP-managed environment.
The policy is grouped under Account Policy – Password, which means it is typically applied through a domain-wide GPO linked at the OU level. In a multi-tenant MSP context, scope it through WMI filters or security group filtering rather than linking at the domain root, so that you can roll out progressively (pilot OU → wider rings → all production).
The setting takes effect after the next Group Policy refresh (gpupdate /force for immediate testing, or by default within ~90 minutes for workstations and ~5 minutes on domain controllers). For computer-side policies a reboot may be required; for user-side policies, a sign-off/sign-on cycle is enough.
Use cases
- Apply organization-wide hardening of account policy on all domain-joined Windows endpoints.
- Roll out a CIS Benchmark-aligned baseline targeting 'Maximum Password Age' via a dedicated GPO.
- Reduce attack surface for accounts that handle privileged credentials or sensitive data.
- Standardize the configuration across multiple customer tenants for an MSP-managed fleet.
- Meet ISO 27001 / SOC 2 / RGPD password and identity controls.
Security implications
This control is primarily about consistency and supportability rather than security. The main risk of leaving it unconfigured is divergence between machines, which makes troubleshooting and standardized imaging harder, especially across multiple customer tenants in an MSP context.
How to configure
- Open Group Policy Management Console (
gpmc.msc) on a domain controller or a workstation with RSAT installed. - Create or edit a GPO linked to the OU containing the target computer configurations. We recommend a dedicated baseline GPO (e.g. SEC – Account Policy) instead of editing Default Domain Policy.
- Navigate to
Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Password Policy. - Open Maximum Password Age and set it to
Never (with MFA) or 365 days. - Click OK and close the editor.
- On the target endpoint, run
gpupdate /force(or wait for the next refresh cycle), then verify withrsop.mscorgpresult /h report.html.