Key Takeaways:
- Enforce alphanumeric passwords on managed devices
- Strengthening security beyond simple numeric PINs
- Reduce the risk of brute-force attacks and meet enterprise compliance standards
- IT admins can define complexity rules (minimum length, character types)
Let’s discuss How to Enable Alphanumeric Device Password Required for Devices using Intune. The Alphanumeric Device Password Required setting is a cornerstone of “Identity-driven security. This setting dictates whether a user can use a simple PIN (e.g., 1234) or if they are forced to use a complex password containing both letters and numbers.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Enable Alphanumeric Device Password Required for Devices using Intune
Organizations can easily configure Enable Alphanumeric Device Password Required policy. A 4-digit PIN has only (10,000) combinations. An 8-character alphanumeric password (using uppercase, lowercase, and numbers) has roughly 62 (over 218 trillion) combinations.
- Require Password when Computer Wakes on Battery using Intune
- Enforcing Password Prompt on Wake for Stronger Security using Intune
- Step-by-Step Intune Configuration to Kill RDP Password Saving on All Endpoints
Example Scenario
For example, A consultant at a global bank has access to sensitive client portfolios via their mobile Outlook and Teams apps. The IT admin enable Alphanumeric Password Required + Minimum length of 8. If the consultant leaves their phone in a taxi, a thief cannot easily guess the code. Even with specialized “cracking” software, the entropy of an alphanumeric password makes unauthorized entry mathematically improbable before the IT department can trigger a Remote Wipe via Intune.
Start Policy Creation in Intune Portal
With your credential you can easily sign in Intune Portal. Then you can configure Alphanumeric Device Password Required policy for your managed devices. For this go to Devices > Configuration >+ Create > +New Policy.
Policy Profile Creation
It is the next step step you have to do for policy Creation. In profile creation you must select platform and profile type. Here I would like to configure the policy to Windows 10 and later platform and settings catalog profile. Then click on the Create button.
Give Name and Description for Policy
Naming the policy is the primary step that help admins to identify the policy later. This is important and necessary step that allows you to know the purpose of the policy. Here is Name is mandatory and description is optional. After adding this click on the Next button.
Select Alphanumeric Device Password Required Settings
With Settings Picker, you can use the Configuration Settings Tab. On this tab, you can click on the +Add Settings hyperlink to get the Settings Picker. The settings picker shows huge number of settings. Here, I would like to select the settings by browsing by Category. I choose Device Lock\Device Password Enabled: Alphanumeric Device Password Required.
Disable Alphanumeric Device Password Required
By default, Alphanumeric Device Password Required policy is disabled. If you want to go with the default behaviour, go with the disable value. Look at the below screenshot.
Choose Value
You can easily enable the Alphanumeric Device Password Required policy. For this policy, there are 3 values are available. They are Password or Alphanumeric PIN required, Password or Numeric PIN required and Password, Numeric PIN, or Alphanumeric PIN required. The below table shows more details.
| Values | Details |
|---|---|
| Password or Alphanumeric PIN required | It forces the user to include at least one mathematical digit (0-9) and at least one alphabetic character (A-Z) or symbol. |
| Password or Numeric PIN required | It allows the user to choose. They can either use a full alphanumeric password OR a simple numeric PIN (e.g., 882934). |
| Password, Numeric PIN, or Alphanumeric PIN required | This essentially allows any of the three formats. The device doesn’t care if the user chooses only numbers, only letters, or a mix of both. |
Add Scope Tags
With scope tags, you create a restriction to the visibility of the lphanumeric Device Password Required. It helps to organise resources as well. Here, I would like to skip this section, because it is not mandatory. Click on the Next button.
Assignments Tab for Selecting Group
To assign the policy to specific groups, you can use the Assignment Tab. Here I click, +Add groups option under Included groups. I choose a group from the list of groups and click on the Select button. Again, I click on the Select button to continue.
Review + Create Tab
Before completing the policy creation, you can review each tab to avoid misconfiguration or policy failure. After verifying all the details, click on the Create Button. After creating the policy, you will get a success message.
Monitoring Status
The Monitoring Status page shows whether the policy has succeeded or not. To quickly configure the policy and take advantage of the policy sync the assigned device on Company Portal. Open the Intune Portal. Go to Devices > Configuration > Search for the Policy. Here, the policy shows as successful.
Event Viewer Details
Event Viewer helps you check the client side and verify the policy status. Open the Client device and open the Event Viewer. Go to Start > Event Viewer. Navigate to Logs: In the left pane, go to Application and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider.
MDM PolicyManager: Set policy int, Policy: (AlphanumericDevicePasswordRequired), Area:
(DeviceLock), EnrollmentID requesting merge: (EB427D85-802F-46D9-A3E2-D5B414587F63),
Current User: (Device), Int: (0x2), Enrollment Type: (0x6), Scope: (0x0).
Removing the Assigned Group from Alphanumeric Device Password Required
If you want to remove the Assigned group from the policy, it is possible from the Intune Portal. To do this, open the Policy on Intune Portal and edit the Assignments tab and the Remove Policy.
To get more detailed information, you can refer to our previous post – Learn How to Delete or Remove App Assignment from Intune using by Step-by-Step Guide.
How to Delete Alphanumeric Device Password Required
You can easily delete the Policy from the Intune Portal. From the Configuration section, you can delete the policy. It will completely remove it from the client devices.
For detailed information, you can refer to our previous post – How to Delete Allow Clipboard History Policy in Intune Step by Step Guide.
Need Further Assistance or Have Technical Questions?
Join the LinkedIn Page and Telegram group to get the latest step-by-step guides and news updates. Join our Meetup Page to participate in User group meetings. Also, join the WhatsApp Community and the WhatsApp channel to get the latest news on Microsoft Technologies. We are there on Reddit as well.
Author
Anoop C Nair is a Workplace Technology solution architect with 25+ years of experience. Microsoft Certified Trainer. Microsoft MVP from 2015 onwards for consecutive 11+ years! He is a blogger, Speaker, and Founder of HTMD Community and HTMD Conference. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like Intune, Windows, and Cloud PC. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Entra, and Microsoft Security.