On Windows Login "your password has expired and must be changed"

[georgesof]

Hi

Not long ago I bought Parallels Desktop and then installed it along with Windows 7 Professional on my laptop. I haven't had too many problems with it however today when trying to boot my windows vm I get the error...

"your password has expired and must be changed" with the options; 'OK' and 'Cancel'. The issue being on my Windows VM i have not set up a Password

I press ok and it takes me back to the same state, if I press OK it then comes up with the a new login screen showing:

'Password'
'New Password'
'Confirm'

As saying with the issue being that I do not have a password set on my windows vm i am confused on what I should do?!?

This is quite urgent too as I am currently doing coursework for ASP.net which I need Visual Studio 2010 for

Any help is going to be greatly appreciated!
Regards

George

[GarySp]

I have the same problem. That message is appearing and every time I enter my Windows password it says I entered the wrong password. Maybe I forgot the pw? Where is it stored? I never had to log in, so it must be stored with Parallels or in the Mac Keychain.

[Motogel]

Me too: worked fine for 10 week sand then suddenly Windows started asking for log in details for an account it created on its own.

[GarySp]

I sent a message to Parallels support and all they could recommend was that I restore my virtual machine using Mac Time Machine. Seems to me there is some kind of timer running in Windows, so the restore would just let that timer go off again.

[juanherrera73]

I'm having the same issue. No way to solve it and the restore solution is not viable for me since I do not use Time Machine.
Parallels please fix this soon !

[GarySp]

I'm glad to see the additional comments. Four of us had the same problem. So I sent the following to Parallels support.

Hello Parallels support,

I'm not the only person with this problem. I think it needs more attention by you. See this forum thread:
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=624137

In my case and others' experience, the installation of P7 led to an automatic login account in the Windows VM. Because I was not prompted to create an account, I did not record a password. Indeed, I never knew a password and I think the password was actually blank or empty. When Windows later asked me to change the password, I had no idea what the original was. I tried some usual passwords and none worked. Leaving it empty is certainly not usual for me, but I happened to try that and it worked. That's how I got out of the jam and was able to set the password to something that made more sense. I was just lucky.

I think you need to change the Parallels setup system so this kind of thing does not occur.

Regards,
Gary Sprung

[kajjt96]

I am having the same issue. I have seen stuff around the web to disable auto login. Problem is I can't get into Windows to do so. It says my password has expired and when I try to change it, it says the domain controller (which I do not have one) is not available.

[abhijit.b]

Please keep the password field as blank and fill new password field with the new password. Then hit enter and then try continuing with the login.

[ChrisS1]

I second this. leave the 'password' field blank and just enter two new matching passwords and hit enter.

[JonBlue]

Parallels Team, what is causing this issue, and will it happen again?

I just had this happen to two different laptops that are both using Parallels 7 / Win 7 Ultimate.

[abhijit.b]

No it will not happen again. But anyway I think you have already created a password. In case you encounter

similar issue in future you should be able to change the password as now you have it.

[JonBlue]

abhijit.b, I had already created a password on the user account when I originally installed Windows, unlike other users in the thread who didn't have passwords on their accounts.

[HeatherH]

I'm glad to see the additional comments. Four of us had the same problem. So I sent the following to Parallels support.

Hey Gary! I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for posting this! You saved me so much time and and even bigger headache! I tried all my usual passwords too....I never would have thought to leave it blank. You are awesome! :)

[DianeH]

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

Hi I need help fast PLEASE:
I put a password on my laptop now it tells me incorrect password its the only password I have had wont let me into my laptop now says systems disabled wat do I do wat do I do?
Thankyou anybody if u can help me.

[ChrisTom]

Parallels sets up an account for you with a blank password. That much is clear from the above.

But it also sets up an automatic login with a blank password. And unless they change it in the future, they also set up password expiry, so you are prompted to change the password after a specified period. Putting it bluntly, this is idiotic on several levels.

Passwords are usually necessary for two reasons (1) you want to stop people physically using your computer, and in Parallels' case, this is taken care of by the OSX security, so it is not strictly necessary. (2) the other reason is to stop hackers who obtain limited control of your computer remotely from getting any further. So forcing you to use a blank password is very poor security.

Parallels sets up an automatic login to make life easy for you, which is nice, but they leave you with a timebomb of needing to reset it and give you no clue how to do so. Anyway, this is what I suggest people should do to sort it out:

1. Reset the Windows password in the usual way through the control panel to something strong (at least 8 upper, lower and numbers)
2. Use the Run command (Start menu or Cmd-R) and paste in "control userpasswords2". Hit OK.
3. TICK the box for "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". Hit OK, and restart
4. Then you need to log into your account using the password you just made
5. Use the Run command (Start menu or Cmd-R) and paste in "control userpasswords2". Hit OK.
6. UNTICK the box for "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". Hit OK, type in the authentication details you want to use to log in automatically and then hit OK.
7. In Computer management, go to properties of your user ID and make sure that "Password never expires" is unchecked.

Then you are good to go. What this does is makes Windows auto login forget the blank credentials and use your new ones. Also it means you won't have to do this again unless you choose to. BUT beware. Passwords that you don't have to type in very often get forgotten, so either write it down and hide it, or make it the same as your OSX login.

I'm totally impressed by Parallels' brilliance, but this is a real facepalm. As is Parallels 8's support for using an external monitor as well as a retina display. Doh!

[KimN]

Hi ChrisTom

This also works in Windows 8 :)

[condie]

I've been screwing around with the command line all day.

You just restored my sanity

But what caused it? Tools? Upgrade to Parallels 8?

[CamaroKid87]

Leave "Current password" field blank and type in a password into the "password" as well as the "verify password" field and click "OK" (set password can be removed later). Works every single time for me, usually every few weeks I'll have to perform this action. I've come to realize that this issue will not become resolved within the near future for some reason. This process will get you into your machine and keep you going.

[GemmaW]

My boss was starting to think I was totally incompetent by forgetting my password. I thought I must have been going mad as I always use the same 5 passwords for work related things and I just could not log in.

Thanks to this forum I was able to fix my problem of changing a password that I never set up in the first place.

Thank you Forum :)

[vans1111]

Hi guys i already leave blank the old password and put password to new password and verify password i hit ok theres pop up message that "you don't have permission to change the password" Please help me!!!