Forcing a User to Change the Logon Password

This code sample demonstrates how to force a user to change the logon password on the next logon using the NetUserGetInfo and NetUserSetInfo functions and the USER_INFO_3 structure. Note that starting with Windows XP, it is recommended that you use the USER_INFO_4 structure instead.

Set the usri3_password_expired member of the USER_INFO_3 structure to a nonzero value using the following code fragment:

#ifndef UNICODE
#define UNICODE
#endif

#include <windows.h>
#define INCL_NET
#include <stdio.h>
#include <lm.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "netapi32.lib")

#define USERNAME L"your_user_name"
#define SERVER L"\\\\server"

void main( void )
{
 PUSER_INFO_3 pUsr = NULL;
 NET_API_STATUS netRet = 0;
 DWORD dwParmError = 0;
 //
 // First, retrieve the user information at level 3. This is 
 // necessary to prevent resetting other user information when 
 // the NetUserSetInfo call is made.
 //
 netRet = NetUserGetInfo( SERVER, USERNAME, 3, (LPBYTE *)&pUsr);

 if( netRet == NERR_Success )
 {
 //
 // The function was successful; set the usri3_password_expired value to 
 // a nonzero value. Call the NetUserSetInfo function.
 //
 pUsr->usri3_password_expired = TRUE;
 netRet = NetUserSetInfo( SERVER, USERNAME, 3, (LPBYTE)pUsr, &dwParmError);
 //
 // A zero return indicates success. 
 // If the return value is ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER, 
 // the dwParmError parameter will contain a value indicating the 
 // invalid parameter within the user_info_3 structure. These values 
 // are defined in the lmaccess.h file.
 //
 if( netRet == NERR_Success )
 printf("User %S will need to change password at next logon", USERNAME);
 else printf("Error %d occurred. Parm Error %d returned.\n", netRet, dwParmError);
 //
 // Must free the buffer returned by NetUserGetInfo.
 //
 NetApiBufferFree( pUsr);
 }
 else printf("NetUserGetInfo failed: %d\n", netRet);
}