Changing your Windows login password

Owned by Sandro Munoz (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jun 10, 2021 by Chad Brown
2 min read

This job aid will show you how to change your logins password, which expires and must be changed every six months.  You will receive notifications several days in advance, both at login and with pop-up notifications.  Changes to your login password will also affect email and VPN login.  Passwords on any mobile devices that access our network resources must also be manually changed. 




Changing your Windows login password using Ctrl+Alt+Del

  1. At any time you can press Ctrl+Alt+Delete then click “Change a password…” to change your password. 


  2. At the password change screen, enter your current, password in the Old password field. In the New password field, enter your new password. Then enter it again in the Confirm password field and press Enter.


  3. After changing your password successfully, click OK.



(info)  Passwords must have the following attributes:

  • Must be at least 12 characters in length
  • Must contain a combination of at least 3 of the 4 following characteristics
    • Upper-case letters (A through Z)
    • Lower-case letters (a through z)
    • Numbers (0 through 9)
    • Non-alphabetic characters (#, $, %, &, !, etc.)

Cannot be a password that has been used in the past 24 months.

Examples of passwords that meet the requirements:

  • Christmas$now (upper-case, symbol, and lower-case)
  • ch@ng3!m3now (lower-case, symbol, and number)

A few important notes about changing your password

  • Don't let your password expire, especially if you will be out of the office. It's much easier to change it while you're in a PATH office.
  • Changing your password will temporarily prevent you from accessing SharePoint sites. This is a known issue.
  • Don't change your password on a Friday or before going away. It's likely you won't remember the password on Monday morning or when you return.
  • Make sure to change your password on other devices that access your mail, like your phone or tablet.
  • You can change an expired password by logging into work.path.org and logging in with your expired password. You'll be prompted to change it.
  • Entering a password incorrectly 3 times in a row will lock your account, but it will unlock itself after 20 minutes.

Tip:

Don't ignore the notification or wait until you're out of the office to change your password.  It's much easier to change it while you're in the office.