Active Directory

How to Find Last Password Change Date in Active Directory

Worried about outdated or unsafe passwords compromising your organization's security? Admins often need to check users' last password change date to ensure the users are properly aligning with organizational password policies. This guide will help admins track key password details, such as user’s last password change date and password policy settings, for effective user password management.

Get Last Password Change Date Using Active Directory Users & Computers

Active Directory Permission Required

Account Operators Least Privilege

Domain Administrators Most Privilege

Open Active Directory Users and Computers console.
Navigate to the respective Organizational Unit (OU).
Double click on the required user to open the account properties.
Select the Attribute Editor tab.
Note: This tab will be available only when Advanced Features is enabled under View option.
Scroll down and find the ‘pwdLastSet’ attribute to see when the user's password was last updated in Active Directory.

Get Last Password Change Date Using Active Directory Users & Computers

Check Last Password Change Date Using Windows PowerShell

Active Directory Permission Required

Account Operators Least Privilege

Domain Administrators Most Privilege

Ensure the Active Directory PowerShell module is already installed in your environment.
Run the below cmdlet to get the last password change date for a specific user.
Note: Replace the <UserName> with the targeted username before running the below cmdlet.

Windows PowerShell

 Get-ADUser –Identity "UserName" -Properties * |
 Where-Object { $_.PasswordLastSet -ne $null } |
ft Name, PasswordLastSet

Use the below cmdlet to get the last password change date for all users in Active Directory.

Windows PowerShell

 Get-ADUser -Filter * -Properties * |
Where-Object { $_.PasswordLastSet -ne $null } |
ft Name, PasswordLastSet

Simple & Quick
Find Last Password Change Date Using AdminDroid 365

AdminDroid Permission Required Delegated

Any user with report access delegated by the Super Admin.

Log in to the AdminDroid Active Directory portal.
Navigate to the Recent Password Changers report under the AD Reports»User»User Password Reports.
This report provides you with a detailed view of recent password changes in Active Directory that includes details like timestamp of last password change, password expiry date, OU name, and more.

Find Last Password Change Date Using AdminDroid 365

AdminDroid Active Directory Reporting

Simplify account management by tracking user password changes!

AdminDroid’s Active Directory reporting tool simplifies user password management and stands as a user-friendly solution for admins. Here are some of the unique insights this tool provides to ensure effective password management in Active Directory.

Stay Ahead of Password Expiry to Prevent Account Lockouts

Monitor users with soon-to-expire passwords and send timely reminders to ensure uninterrupted access and avoid unexpected lockouts.

Minimize Security Risks by Monitoring Accounts without Password Authentication

Review password not required users and enforce password creation or update policy settings for these users to reduce account compromise risks.

Ensure Compliance by Identifying Users with Unchanged Passwords

Identify users who have never changed their passwords and encourage them to update their passwords, which align with the organization’s policy requirements.

Gain Complete Visibility into User Password Configurations

Access a comprehensive report on users password details to gather all user’s password related information in one place without navigating through multiple reports.

Detect and Act on Password Reset Failures with Advanced Alerting

Set up an alert policy with AdminDroid to get notified of password reset failures and investigate any unusual number of failures to stay secure from potential threats.

Track Admin Password Reset Activities with Ease

Download the password reset by admins report in required formats like PDF, CSV, HTML, etc., and easily verify whether any unauthorized admins are performing password reset activities.

Overall, with advanced features like intuitive charts, seamless export options, and customizable scheduling, AdminDroid simplifies tracking and managing Active Directory password changes. Thus, Admindroid stands as a comprehensive solution to streamline all your AD monitoring and reporting needs.

Explore a full range of reporting options

Download Live Demo

Important Tips

Regularly monitor directory services restore mode (DSRM) password changes, as it is critical for accessing the Directory Services in case of recovery.

Ensure consistent password policy settings across all domain controllers to prevent any discrepancies in user authentication in any DC.

Set account lockout policies to block users from logging in after a specific number of incorrect password attempts and prevent security breaches.

Common Errors and Resolution Steps

The following are possible errors and troubleshooting hints while dealing with getting the last password change date of users in the Active Directory.

Error This user account's password has expired. The password must change in order to login.

This error occurs when user password is expired due to organizational password policy requirements.

Fix Follow these steps to reset a user’s password and help them regain access to their account.

Error Import-Module : The specified module 'ActiveDirectory' was not loaded because no valid module file was found in any module directory.

This error occurs in PowerShell when attempting to import the Active Directory module, but the module cannot be found in the specified directories.

Fix

If you are using a domain controller, the Active Directory module is included by default.
However, if you are on a domain-joined computer, the module is not installed by default and needs to be added manually.

To check if the module is available on your system, you can run the following command:

//If the module is not listed, you will need to install the RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools) for Active Directory.
Get-Module -ListAvailable | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "ActiveDirectory"}

Error Unable to update the password. The value provided for the new password does not meet the length, complexity, or history requirements of the domain.

This error occurs when the new password does not align with the organization’s password policy.

Fix Contact your administrator to know about your organization’s password requirements and use new password accordingly.

Active Directory

Frequently Asked Questions

Track Password Change Date to Strengthen Account Security

How to reset password in Active Directory?

How to detect password changes in Active Directory?

How to find bad password attempts in Active Directory?

How to configure password policy in Active Directory?

1. How to reset password in Active Directory?

Password resets are essential, particularly when admins handle forgotten and expired passwords. They are also critical when suspicious activity is detected in a user account. Admins can quickly reset the respective user’s password to safeguard against potential risks.

Please follow the steps below to reset user password in Active Directory.

How to reset password in Active Directory?

Open Active Directory Users and Computers console.
Right click on the desired user and click ‘Reset Password’.
Enter the New password and Confirm password.
Then, click Ok to complete the password reset in AD.

Additionally, you can enforce the option ‘User must change password at next login’. You can also Unlock the user’s account if it was locked due to a lockout policy.

How to change user password in Active Directory?

Active Directory users cannot reset their own passwords. However, they can change their password if their account is active and they know the current password. This is particularly useful in situations where users need to update their passwords due to organizational policies or personal security concerns.

Here’s how to change the password in Active Directory:

Access a domain-joined machine where you have an active session.
Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select Change Password from the options.
Note: If you are connected via Remote Desktop, use Ctrl + Alt + End instead.
Enter your current password and the new password in the respective fields.
Press Enter to update the password.

2. How to detect password changes in Active Directory?

A common tactic used by malicious actors during a cyber-attack is resetting the user or admin passwords after compromising an account. This grants them the ability to execute harmful actions with ease. Admins must check password change history in Active Directory regularly to detect unusual activities and respond swiftly to ensure security.

Track password changes in Active Directory

Open Event Viewer on a domain controller where Active Directory event logs are stored.
Navigate to Windows Logs»Security and click on the Filter Current Log from Actions pane .
Search for the following event IDs to review details of all password reset and change activities.
4723 - This event logs when a user changes their account password.

4724 - This event ID indicates when someone resets a user’s password.

However, the above approach does not provide any preview of the events. So, it can be difficult to navigate through each event to verify whether the password reset/change activities are authorized.

With AdminDroid, you can access the All Password Changes/Resets report with all required stats in a single view.

This report includes all essential information like password change date, time, the account for which the password was changed, and more.
It also features AI-generated charts for clear insights and improved data visibility. Use the "Password Changed To" chart for a quick overview of accounts with frequent password changes.

3. How to find bad password attempts in Active Directory?

Bad password attempts are usually considered as harmless login failures caused by incorrect password entries. However, when these attempts occur repeatedly, they may indicate potential security threats like password spray or brute force attacks. Regularly monitoring these events helps admins to detect and prevent such attacks, which keeps the organization’s security intact.

Steps to find bad password attempts by each user

Open Active Directory Users and Computers console.
Right-click on the required user and select Properties.
Go to Attribute Editor tab and scroll down to find the following attributes, which provide information about the user's bad password attempts.
- badPasswordTime: Indicates the date and time when the user last entered an incorrect password while attempting to log in to the Active Directory.
- badPwdCount: Represents the total number of failed login attempts caused by incorrect password entries.

Get bad password attempts using PowerShell

Manually verifying bad password attempts for bulk users can be tedious. So, use the following cmdlet to get bad password attempts using PowerShell for all users in AD:

Get-ADUser -Filter * -Properties *
Select Name, BadPwdCount, LastBadPasswordAttempt

Note: A '0' bad password count indicates that the user has not entered any incorrect passwords while logging into their account.

Effortlessly determine whether the password login failures are a potential attack or a simple user mistake with AdminDroid!

With AdminDroid you can effectively monitor the failed logon attempts due to invalid username or password. This will help you to easily identify any potential risk due to the unusual number of incorrect password login failures.
You shall utilize AdminDroid’s alerting feature and configure the threshold limits to receive instant alerts when failed attempts exceed the limit. With these alerts, you can strengthen your password and account lockout policies for better security.

4. How to configure password policy in Active Directory?

Organizations often enable the 'User can change their password' setting to encourage regular password updates or meet compliance requirements. However, this practice can result in users using weak or repetitive passwords, which increases the risk of account compromise. To address this, admins must configure password policy settings that enforce complexity, password length, and other essential criteria to strengthen password security.

Steps to configure domain password policy in Active Directory

Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) on your Windows server.
Right click on the ‘Default Domain Policy’ and click on the Edit option.
Navigate to the Computer Configuration»Policies»Windows Settings»Security Settings»Account Policies.
Select Password Policy from the Account Policies section.
Configure each policy setting on the right pane, such as password complexity, length, and expiration as per your requirement.
The default domain password policy settings are as follows.
You shall also consider the following password policy best practices. Then, click apply and save the changes to enforce password policy in Active Directory.

As an admin, checking current password requirements in Active Directory is crucial to ensure they align with your organizational needs. It also helps identify areas that may need additional configurations for improved security.

Utilize ‘Password Policy Check' report in AdminDroid, for a clear overview of the current password requirements in Active Directory.
This report helps you identify outdated settings and plan new security measures to strengthen your password policies.
AdminDroid also allows you to track domain wide password policy changes with detailed insights, like modification timestamps, accounts involved, modified properties, etc. This makes it easier to track and review new password policy setting changes implemented by other admins.