Allowing AD users to change password (Self-service). Setup and end-user process?


Recommended Posts

Hey all,

 

Pretty much what the title says. I've tried searching online, but most of what I get is just people suggesting enterprise full-management systems that happen to include this one feature as well. I found one article explaining how to do it with Windows Server only, but it seemed like it was outdated, or for a very specific scenario, or overkill for what I need, or a combination of those.

 

How does it work to allow ActiveDirectory users to set/change their own password without having to tell it to an administrator who then changes the password manually?

 

Thanks for the help!

Unless I've misunderstood...

AD users can set their own passwords upon entering a password that you give you to them. As long you don't uncheck 'User must change password at next logon'.

 

For an AD user to change password on the fly; Ctrl-Alt-Delete and take the option to Change Password.

I'm very confused about the question aswell. The Active Directory does this by default, doesn't it?

 

I've worked in plenty of jobs, and it was the only the most recent one where I was expected to ask the user for their password. I turned around and told them that it goes against IT security 101 to ask such a question.

 

The system should be: user hits ctrl+alt+delete, selects "change password" and the AD gets updated with the new password. I'm confused on why the Active Directory (something that should be used for educational/enterprise situations) wouldn't contain that as a basic feature?

  On 22/05/2018 at 19:43, xendrome said:

I think maybe he means if a user has locked themselves out or forgotten their password.. If this the case then I believe only a 3rd party utility will do this.

Expand  

Surely that breaks the security front? You'd be allowing someone to enter a password incorrectly three times before the account gets locked, then allow that person to change the password to something they want without any verification?

  On 22/05/2018 at 19:46, Nick H. said:

Surely that breaks the security front? You'd be allowing someone to enter a password incorrectly three times before the account gets locked, then allow that person to change the password to something they want without any verification?

Expand  

usually the temp password is set with the 'must change on next login' so the user then has to change it to their own password

 

but yes unless OP is talking about locked/forgotten passwords then any user can change their own AD password after logging in by doing ctrl+alt+del and selecting Change Password.
this only really gets muddied when on a laptop, you'll want to be sure you're connected to the AD network when changing password :)

  On 22/05/2018 at 19:51, Brandon H said:

usually the temp password is set with the 'must change on next login' so the user then has to change it to their own password

 

but yes unless OP is talking about locked/forgotten passwords then any user can change their AD password after logging in by doing ctrl+alt+del and selecting Change Password.
this only really gets muddied when on a laptop, you'll want to be sure you're connected to the AD network when changing password :)

Expand  

Oh, if we're talking about a first-time login then that is different. But I stand by the idea that for security reasons you would still be required to call your IT support to reset the password. Otherwise when IT support create a new account they generate the same first password every time, in which case the manager will know the default password after they've worked there a while. I don't agree with it, but again it's something I have come across.

  On 22/05/2018 at 19:46, Nick H. said:

Surely that breaks the security front? You'd be allowing someone to enter a password incorrectly three times before the account gets locked, then allow that person to change the password to something they want without any verification?

Expand  

No the 3rd party apps usually integrate with security questions to reset the password, it then shows up on the user login GUI like this one - https://www.manageengine.com/products/self-service-password/self-service-password-reset.html

  On 22/05/2018 at 19:57, xendrome said:

No the 3rd party apps usually integrate with security questions to reset the password, it then shows up on the user login GUI like this one - https://www.manageengine.com/products/self-service-password/self-service-password-reset.html

Expand  

Urgh, ManageEngine. I've had bad experiences with them, although that is due to the way they offer customization on all of their products and the company took it live too soon.

 

But fair play, I didn't know about that option. Cheers. (Y)

Hey guys, my bad. Realized I left out a pretty crucial detail, so sorry. Is there a way to do this without the user being on a computer that is attached to the domain? As far as I understand, the ctrl alt dlt -> change password method requires that, right?

 

These logins would mainly be used for access to a network share, and to login to the VPN, which don't really require domain connections, and a lot of our staff use personal computers, laptops that go abroad, etc etc so requiring a solution that only works when on the domain isn't very effective.

Where we work, if you forget your password? Tough. 

 

We reset your password in AD, and you have to enter a new one. If you're not on site we give you a temporary one to log in with once, but you have to change it as soon as you enter it. 

 

We remember the last 10 hashes too, so no switching between a few that you use everywhere else.

  On 22/05/2018 at 19:57, Nick H. said:

Oh, if we're talking about a first-time login then that is different. But I stand by the idea that for security reasons you would still be required to call your IT support to reset the password. Otherwise when IT support create a new account they generate the same first password every time, in which case the manager will know the default password after they've worked there a while. I don't agree with it, but again it's something I have come across.

Expand  

oh my, no it's not quite that bad here.

 

here if we lock our account we call into our IT and there's an automated system on the phone that can reset and give you a temp pw (you have to enter your employee ID and a couple other details to confirm it's really you); or we can wait for a live agent as well but the automated system is preferred because our IT department can get busy to the point you're waiting 4 hours in queue on the phone.

  On 22/05/2018 at 20:06, Seizure1990 said:

Hey guys, my bad. Realized I left out a pretty crucial detail, so sorry. Is there a way to do this without the user being on a computer that is attached to the domain? As far as I understand, the ctrl alt dlt -> change password method requires that, right?

 

These logins would mainly be used for access to a network share, and to login to the VPN.

Expand  

there you get to the problem i mentioned with laptops above.

 

there's not really an easy way around it that I am aware of.

1 option I could think of is you could have the authentication for the network drives separate from the AD login so it always prompts user/password when they connect to it.

  On 22/05/2018 at 20:06, Seizure1990 said:

Hey guys, my bad. Realized I left out a pretty crucial detail, so sorry. Is there a way to do this without the user being on a computer that is attached to the domain? As far as I understand, the ctrl alt dlt -> change password method requires that, right?

Expand  

That's a bit crucial. :laugh:

 

So you want someone that is logging in via VPN on a computer that isn't in the domain the reset their password? It's doable, but now we're starting to get outside of my expertise.

  On 22/05/2018 at 20:08, Brandon H said:

oh my, no it's not quite that bad here.

 

here if we lock our account we call into our IT and there's an automated system on the phone that can reset and give you a temp pw (you have to enter your employee ID and a couple other details to confirm it's really you); or we can wait for a live agent as well but the automated system is preferred because our IT department can get busy to the point you're waiting 4 hours in queue on the phone.

Expand  

That doesn't sound overly secure...but then again I am in Switzerland, the home of privacy and security. :laugh:

Requiring a prompt every time isn't really the issue. I just want to provide a way for users to set their own password, so that they can set it to something personal (and hopefully secure), without them having to give me their chosen password directly. Otherwise, I am stuck assigning everyone crazy passwords that I am 100% sure they will never remember, because I'm the one who set it, and I'll have to reset it for them weekly, or, will be forced to ask users what their password should be which is sort of an issue as well for obvious reasons.

 

Anyways, it's starting to sound like without the Domain connection, there isn't a "vanilla" way to do this, and I'll have to find some software after all?

 

If so, I came across this earlier: https://github.com/pwm-project/pwm/

Thoughts?

  On 22/05/2018 at 20:11, Nick H. said:

That doesn't sound overly secure...but then again I am in Switzerland, the home of privacy and security. :laugh:

Expand  

It is when the automated system sounds so garbled that you can't understand the password lmao :laugh:

 

actually they've recently disabled the automated system while they review new code options so you may be right that it's not very secure in the long run

You could try the following if you system is also integrated with AzureAD - https://osddeployment.dk/2017/11/02/how-to-enable-password-reset-from-windows-10-login-screen/ for users connecting through your network if they are on a domain.

 

If they are not on the domain you would be best off creating a custom web application that users can access to reset their accounts.  The application could be setup to conduct some sort of Two-Factor or higher authentication and then reset their password.  You would have to have some system that the user interacts with that can access Active Directory or LDAPS if it is configured.

my helpdesk system allows the use of a self service portal.   This will allow them to unlock their accounts and reset passwords after answering a predefined amount of questions (3, 5, 7, etc).  I would not advise putting that on the internet to be accessible, but it is better than nothing.  

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Yeah, but that never works out well. You can just give your power user more options and they'll be happy. Your new generation can just go with whatever you think is the best default.
    • It's cheaper to let their 3rd party sales people do more than supporting thousands in-house. Sucks for those who lost a job but these tech and entertainment companies overstaffed with the lockdown and the huge boost in demand they got when everyone was stuck at home.
    • The Xbox game bar says hi. It's been able to show you CPU, RAM, GPU and FPS for as long as I can remember.
    • WinSCP 6.5.2 by Razvan Serea  WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client, FTP client, WebDAV client and SCP client for Windows. Its main function is file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers scripting and basic file manager functionality. WinSCP features: Graphical user interface Translated into several languages Integration with Windows (drag&drop, URL, shortcut icons) U3 support All common operations with files Support for SFTP and SCP protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2 and plain old FTP protocol Batch file scripting and command-line interface Directory synchronization in several semi or fully automatic ways Integrated text editor Support for SSH password, keyboard-interactive, public key and Kerberos (GSS) authentication Integrates with Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) for full support of public key authentication with SSH Explorer and Commander interfaces Optionally stores session information Optionally supports portable operation using a configuration file in place of registry entries, suitable for operation from removable media WinSCP 6.5.2 changelog: Thumbnail view in file panels. Three selectable sizes of toolbar icons, showing slightly larger size by default. Switching to Segoe UI font with slightly larger size. Improvements to Synchronization checklist window, including resolving file moves and pushing synchronization to background queue. Ongoing local delete operation can be moved to a background queue. Optimized working with large local directories. Compatibility with new OneDrive WebDAV interface. Dark theme for session tabs. Improvements to S3 support, including more options to authentication and display and modification of S3 file/object tags. List of all changes. Download: WinSCP 6.5.2 | 11.6 MB (Open Source) Download: WinSCP MSI | 28.7 MB Download: Standalone Executable | 8.4 MB Link: WinSCP Home page | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      Fuzz_c earned a badge
      First Post
    • First Post
      TIGOSS earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      slackerzz earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      vivetool earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      pnajbar earned a badge
      Reacting Well
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      709
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      279
    3. 3
      Michael Scrip
      209
    4. 4
      +FloatingFatMan
      199
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      130
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!