UPDATE: Please note, the application of the Office 365 password policy for BPOS-S users has shifted. The new dates for the change in password policy are: July 2 for Asia-Pacific, July 9 for Americas, and July 16 for Europe.

On April 1, Microsoft informed customers via e-mail about an upcoming change to Business Productivity Online Suite Standard (BPOS-S) passwords to prepare for the transition to Office 365.    

The password policy for Office 365 is slightly different than the password policy for BPOS-S today. To ensure that passwords used for BPOS-S today can be transitioned to and used in Office 365, the Office 365 password policy will be enforced for BPOS-S users beginning in July. Following is the deployment schedule for each region:

What does that mean for organizations that use BPOS-S today? After the deploymnet date for each region, when a password is reset or when a user account is created, the Office 365 password policy will be enforced. Specifically, users will be required to follow these rules:

• Passwords must be between 8 and 16 characters.

• Passwords can no longer contain Unicode characters, including those used in languages currently supported by Unicode exclusively. Only the following characters are allowed for Office 365 passwords:
  
  A-Z, a-z, 0-9, ! @ # $ % ^ & * - _ + = [ ] { } | \ : ' , . ? / ` ~ " < > ( ) ;

The Office 365 password policy will be reflected in the password reset utility in the Microsoft Online Administration Center (MOAC) and the My Company Portal, as well as in related Microsoft Online Services PowerShell commandlets.

BPOS-S users whose passwords do not meet the new requirements will find that their current passwords will not work after they have transitioned to Office 365. For the best transition experience, Administrators will want to make sure that all users, including service accounts, change their password after the July password policy change and prior to the organization's transition to Office 365.

What if users do not change their password prior to transition?

If users do not change their password prior to transition to Office 365, they will not be able to login to their Office 365 account without intervention by Administrators.

• Post transition, Administrators can use the Office 365 Administration Center to reset user passwords. When a user password is reset, Office 365 provides a temporary password that they can be used for initial sign in to Office 365.

• Alternatively, Administrators can assign users new passwords using the PowerShell commandlets provided in the Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool.

What if an organization has a non-expiring password policy?

If users are not automatically prompted to change their passwords via regularly expiring passwords, Administrators have several options prior to transition:

• Instruct end-users to change their passwords using the Microsoft Online Services Sign In application or the My Company portal.

• Reset end user passwords using the Microsoft Online Administration Center. Users will receive a temporary password, which they must reset when they sign in to BPOS-S.

• Assign end users new passwords using PowerShell commandlets provided in the Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool.

Alternatively, Administrators can wait until their organization transitions to Office 365 and use one of the password setup options described above.

More Information

The Windows PowerShell commandlets for changing user passwords are documented in this article on the Help and How-to Portal.

Administrators can find more information, FAQs and checklists to help prepare for the transition to Office 365 at the Microsoft Office 365 Transition Center.