Remind Users to Change Password in Windows 7 / Windows 8: NetWrix Password Expiration Notifier

The end of the year was fruitful for us: 5 programs immediately received significant updates. About the releases of NetWrix Active Directory Change Reporter 7.2 and Change Reporter Suite 3.2 we already wrote in previous posts. But now the focus is on a password management program.
Meet the new version of NetWrix Password Expiration Notifier 3.2 . As the name implies, the main task of the program is to remind users of the need to change the password on their machine.
The question that the password change notification in Windows 7 (and Windows 8) looks too unobtrusive has been repeatedly raised on the forums.

Since Microsoft does not offer a solution to the problem, there are several solutions:

• let it be as it is
• write your own script - here is one example
• specialized software

We turn to the third option and consider the free program Password Expiration Notifier .
It is necessary to immediately clarify that speaking of a free program, we cannot but indicate the presence of an extended commercial version. However, in this post we will leave its consideration outside the brackets and focus on what the free version gives.



The main purpose of the program is to remind users in the domain about the need to change the password within a certain period of time. The program expands the regular capabilities of the Windows operating system and provides advanced features for administrators and Help Desk to monitor the status of passwords.
One of the important features is the support of users working remotely. In the case when the user has an AD account only for access to VPN, Outlook Web Access (OWA) and access to files, there is no interactive connection option, which means that these users also cannot access the standard notification from Windows.

Let's take a brief look at the functions :

• Administrators can receive reports on the status of account passwords (“password expires soon”, “expired”);
• Users receive notifications not only about the expiration of the password, but also the validity of the account itself;
• Users receive notifications about the need to change the account password before the password expires;
• Administrators can configure password expiration dates based on granular policies, while ignoring domain password policies;
• Support for both trust and non-trust domains;
• Ability to overwrite “Maximum Password Age” setting to calculate password expiration date

We want to pay special attention to the Plan & Test function . Using it, administrators can check the configuration and find out how many users will be affected by the planned changes to the password policy. To do this, you will not have to distract users or change AD settings.

Program download page
Webinar recording (along with other solutions for managing passwords and account locks)