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Guidelines for the central user and workstation account

The password rules of an account depend on the used system. In addition to the general guidelines, please also note the rules of the respective account, as well as the further notes.

General password guidelines

Allowed are upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters (spaces, semicolons, accents ^ ` ', & and $ are not allowed, umlaut and ß should be avoided)

  • At least 12, better 16 characters (maximum 127 characters) for user accounts
  • 20 characters for admin accounts
  • The password must contain at least three different types of characters (e.g. uppercase letter, lowercase letter and a special character).
  • The password must not be derived from your name, account name or lexicon

Central user account (Uni-Account)

  • The password must differ from an old password in at least 2 characters.
  • Blocking threshold and duration when logging into the webmailer: After 5 invalid login attempts, the login will be blocked for 10 minutes.

Workplace account

  • Password history: 10 passwords are stored
  • Lockout threshold and duration: After 10 invalid login attempts, the login will be blocked for 30 minutes
  • After the first log on to your PC workplace account, you will be automatically prompted to change your password
  • Steps to change your password: After log on, press the keys Ctrl + Alt + Del. A window opens in which you can set a new password using the "Change password..." button.

Workplace account University administration (AD account)

  • Password history: 5 passwords are stored
  • Lockout threshold and duration: After 3 invalid login attempts, the login will be locked for 30 minutes
  • After the first log on to your PC workplace account, you will be automatically prompted to change your password
  • Steps to change your password: After log on, press the keys Ctrl + Alt + Del. A window opens in which you can set a new password using the "Change password..." button.
  • Permitted special characters: ~!@#"%()*_-+=|\{}[]:<>,.?/
    Not allowed are special characters like $&'€ as well as äöüÄÖÜß, mainly because of other password policies for VPN dial-in.

Further hints on setting your password

  • To easily memorise your password, you may choose the first letters of a sentence from a saying, song or poem and use them as your password.
  • Some special characters, e.g. $&'€ can theoretically be used, but may not work with some IT systems and applications or in other countries.
  • Staff of Philipps-Universität will never ask you (neither by email nor by phone or in person) to give them your password!