Updating the default password policy

Flowing on right from our previous screenshot, we already have the Default Domain Policy opened for editing, so let's go ahead and make a change to verify that this whole Group Policy thing works! Some of the primary settings inside this policy are rules and restrictions surrounding password requirements for user accounts within the domain. If you navigate to Computer Configuration | Policies | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Account Policies | Password Policy, you will see the currently configured password requirements:

To make a change, all you need to do is double-click one of the entries on the right-hand side of the screen, and update the information. In order to prove that this change really works, I want to make an adjustment that will have immediate impact on my existing user accounts. Currently, the password for my login is only eight characters long. I am going to update the Minimum password length to 12 characters:

After clicking OK in order to accept the change, this updated setting is immediately saved into the GPO and replication starts pushing it out to the rest of my network. In order to really test this setting, I am going to also force my user account to require a password change during my next login. This is accomplished from inside my user account properties inside Active Directory Users and Computers. Once I have checked the box labelled User must change password at next logon, I then walk over to my Windows 10 workstation and try to log in as myself. I am presented with a password change notification screen, and if I try to set a new password that is less than 12 characters in length, it fails: