windows question
 

As this forum lacks an IT section IB will have to do.

My company use for some reason known only to them Microsoft windows, So I have to have one laptop with it on. Because I work all over the place, I do not authenticate to anything, but my laptop. Now some Bozo has decided that the domain account I use whenever I mount a network device should have a time out on the password and he has set it as expired.

Now I cannot mount any devices as I am told my password has expired. How do I set a new password. The IT politzie say I should change my password but cannot tell me how. Windoze does not give me an option it simply says it cannot mount the device as my password has expired. Wouldn't it be better of Microsoft to do some form of certificate exchange to authenticate people/devices than a password.

I have sent nasty mails to the bozo responsible and await him getting his **** into gear. In the meantime are there any windows gurus out there who can give me a pointer

Are you able to reconnect your laptop back onto the domain ? if not I think you are f*cked.... as it'll want to talk to the Domain Controller to be to allow you to reset your password.

If it isnt coming up with a box asking you to choose a new password you are IMHO out of luck...

I might be wrong though

Can you not dial into the company network and reset your password or connect to the network somehow over VPN?

What version of windows do you have? doing ctrl alt del should bring up a menu to change password but dont think this will work properly as your not on the network.

Re: windows question
 

Walk up to the Bozo's machine...
Hit the power button
Now hit the power button again...
Wait for his machine to boot up...
Enter your username and password
You will now be prompted to change your password.

Or find another machine which is setup on the domain.

Dan

Re: windows question
 

Yah beat me to it :lol:

If there is a GPO in force that expires the password then you will need to be connected to the network and logon to change the password.

It is possable that due to an odd config that is allowed in windows, that you can be locked out completley from updating the password when its expired and will need the password reset by a sysop. Rare but possable.

Usaly to change the password just Ctrl-Alt-Delete >> Change Password.

As I said, I do not authenticate to anything. In the past I shouted at the local IT managers and they got round the problem by disabling password changes for me. Now they have gone AD mad. There is some guy in France who has decided that all passswords should expire every couple of months.

I do not authenticate as I work all over the place, in customers offices, construction sites etc. That is the purpose of a laptop, not as a status symbol like most. but to actually be portable. Therefore I work independantly of the companies networks etc. I just connect to resources as I need them. The only way out at present that I can see is to phone someone and ask him to log on as me and change the password. (Very Secure). Surely microsoft must know that they simply cannot refuse to connect devices for expired passwords without giving the user the ability to make the change.

For the windows servers I personally control over the world I use local passwords. That way again I am independant of the companies IT policy. But with the drive to get everthing within an AD. The lunatics are taking over.

The local IT administrators know why I was configured in this way, but have had their abilities to make changes taken away from then in order to justify a centralised "team"

There is nothing wrong with windows, it is doing exactly what it is being told to do. This is the annoying thing with NIX other OS people, they asume its all MSFTs problem.

The password usaly would be changed via a proper logon. From what i can remember only Admins can use c:\>net user JoeBlogs newpassword other users will get an Access Denied message.

It sounds like he will have to change your password for you, if he was a tad cleaver he could add you username into a GPO that does not have such tight controls.

Do you have any kind of Terminal Services setup so you can logon with a desktop in the company, probably that way you could get around the problem.

PS. Not sure if this still exists in windows or if they have changed it. But the way you could stuff it up and get locked out permanatly was to set a time to expire the password & also require the user to login to change the password. Doing that would mean that if the person did not change the password before it expired then when he tried to login he could not and because he could not login he could not change the password. Its a catch22, but only because it was set that way and was logicly folowing the rules.

Frustrating isnt it Tim, its just as TSM says windows doing what its told to do.

We have the same problem at work, its really irritating. However I get round because I'm an enterprise admin in our AD infrastructure I'm able to over ride these kind of stupid policies by doing what TSM says and I just put myself into an OU and then refuse all the inheritance policies on it.

Sounds like to me they are just being inflexible with their policy