ActiveDirectory

Windows Authentication is based on Kerberos standard authentication but with some extensions. Your UMIACS Kerberos5 account is different from your ActiveDirectory account and unless you set your passwords manually they will not be the same.

Your ActiveDirectory authentication is used in a variety of different places,

• Logging into UMIACS ActiveDirectory Windows Domain (pc.umiacs.umd.edu) computer
• Exchange Mail Service
• VPN Service

Your account might be shown in two ways,

• PC\username
• username@pc.umiacs.umd.edu

depending on the application you are using.

Updating your ActiveDirectory Password

If you need to update your ActiveDirectory password you need to access the Windows Security portion of a pc.umiacs.umd.edu domain desktop or server. This can be found in two ways,

• If you are physically sitting at the host you can press the hardware control sequence all at once

  <CTRL><ALT><DELETE> 

• If you are logging in remotely you can access Windows Security by going to

   Start->Settings->Windows Security... 

You should get a screen that looks like this,

You can choose Change Password to update your ActiveDirectory authentication.

Password Policies

We have the following policies in regards to our ActiveDirectory passwords,

• Minimum Password Length : 8 Characters

This requires that your password is a minimum of 8 characters (it can have more just not less)

• Minimum Character Classes : 3 Character Classes
  • English uppercase characters (A - Z)
  • English lowercase characters (a - z)
  • Base 10 digits (0 - 9)
  • Non-alphanumeric (For example: !, $, #, or %)
  • Unicode characters

Requires that a password have at least 3 character classes they include: lower-case letters, upper-case letters, digits and punctuation.

• Number of Previous Passwords Kept: 5

ActiveDirectory will store your last 5 passwords and will not let you set a new password to them, please choose a new password.

• The password does not contain three or more characters from the user's account name

Password Security

ActiveDirectory Kerberos security depends on the security of your password. Although Kerberos can make secure access to services convenient, it is still your responsibility to secure your password. Please try to choose a strong password and use secure protocols