Users Cannot Change Password When Logging On

ID: Q198941

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition

SYMPTOMS

When a user on a computer running Windows NT Workstation logs on with an expired password and is prompted to change the password, he or she receives either of the the following errors:

You do not have permission to change your password.

-or-

Unable to change the password on this account (C00000BE). Please consult your system administrator.

CAUSE

Users can receive the above error messages under a variety of conditions. The underlying cause for these errors is a security registry change involving the RestrictAnonymous value. For additional information about the RestrictAnonymous value, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q143474 Restricting Information Available to Anonymous Logon Users

Scenario 1

In this scenario, the following conditions are true:

RestrictAnonymous is enabled on the PDC.

The primary domain controller (PDC) is running Service Pack 3 (SP3).

The clients are running SP3.

Strong passwords are enforced on the domain, either by Passfilt.dll or Passprop.exe from the Windows NT resource kit, or a minimum password length is specified in the Account Policy in User Manager for Domains.

If the client attempts to change an expired password when logging on and it does not meet the password requirements, the following error message will be displayed:

You do not have permission to change your password.

If the password meets the password requirements, the password should be changed successfully. The error text is reported incorrectly and should state that the user's password does not meet the domain policy. This issue is addressed in SP4.

Scenario 2

In this scenario, the following conditions are true:

RestrictAnonymous is enabled on the PDC.

The PDC is running Service Pack 4 (SP4).

The clients are running SP3.

If the client attempts to change an expired password when logging on, the following error message will be displayed:

Unable to change the password on this account (C00000BE). Please consult your system administrator.

Because a null session is used for this password change, the operation fails.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, remove the RestrictAnonymous entry or set the value to 0, and then restart the PDC. This workaround will resolve both scenarios above. In scenario 2, upgrading the clients to Service Pack 4 will also resolve the problem.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q196289 PRB: SP3 Clients Cannot Change Passwords - Error C00000BE

Q161990 How to Enable Strong Password Functionality in Windows NT

Q174076 Invalid Password Message When Strong Passwords Are Required

Q158388 Useful Resource Kit Utilities for Domain Administrators

Keywords :
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb