Change Password Registry entry

Specify whether password changing is supported.

The majority of password Management functionality is available in Vitalware 2.3 onwards without the need to have it enabled. In fact, most of the client-side functionality is invoked by requests from the Vitalware server. For example, if a user's password has expired, the Vitalware server will inform the Vitalware Windows client next time the user logs in to Vitalware. At this time the user will be prompted for a new password.

The only feature that is instigated by the user is the ability to change their password. In order to change a user's password, the Vitalware server must provide the required support. Both PAM and SFU / SUA provide mechanisms for updating a password, whereas Traditional does not. It is also possible to configure PAM to not support password updates, or to add in other authentication mechanisms (e.g. dongles) that do not provide password updates.

Tip: For systems that do not support password changes via PAM or SFU / SUA, the Change Password Admin Task is provided to allow users to change their password.

The Vitalware client cannot determine what level of support is provided by the Vitalware server for password changing. As such, this Registry entry has been added to indicate whether password changing is supported.

Usage

This Registry entry can be assigned to users, groups and system-wide:

Key User Group Key System
Key 1 User Group Key 1 System
Key 2 user group Key 2 Setting
Key 3 Setting Key 3 Change Password
Key 4 Change Password    
Value boolean Value boolean
User user Setting Change Password boolean
Group group Setting Change Password boolean
System Setting Change Password boolean

Note: A Group|Default|Change Password setting is not possible. To enable this option for all users, use the System setting.

where:

boolean

is true (password changing is supported) or false (password changing is not supported).

The default value is true, and the Change Password command displays in the Tools menu. If false, the Change Password command is removed from the Tools menu.

Note: If you are using the Traditional password mechanism, you will need to disable password changing explicitly (see Password Management for details).

Example

This entry disables password changing for all users:

Key Setting
Key 1 System
Key 2 Setting
Key 3 Change Password
Value false