What does it do?

How does it work?

The Password Reset Web Part can be added to a page on an anonymous access SharePoint WSS site. When users forget their password, they can navigate to this site and answer security questions to perform a one step password reset, or as an alternative configuration, the product supports an email model that prompts users to enter their user name and email address into the Password Reset Web Part and click a Submit button. An email confirmation is then automatically generated and sent to the user’s inbox notifying them a request has been submitted to reset their password and a hyperlink is provided to confirm the request. The user then clicks the hyperlink from the email and their password is reset. Another email message is sent to the user with the new temporary password. This temporary password is generated according to the password security policy set up on your network. When using the email verification model, all users must exist in SharePoint with their email address also stored with their user profile in SharePoint.

Alternatively, if you’d like a more customized application, you can use the ASP.NET sample applications that come with the Password Reset Web Part download. These applications provide full ASP.NET source code samples that interface with the Password Reset services, allowing you to set up an ASP page outside of SharePoint (anywhere on your intranet) to allow users to reset their passwords on their own. Users then access the Password Reset functionality with the custom requirements you build into your ASP page(s). For more information on using the ASP.NET application, refer to the HW10 ASP.NET Sample Guide.pdf included in the Application Notes download below.

Why did we build it?

Today, SharePoint administrators spend a significant amount of time handling user requests for resetting their passwords when users either forget their password and/or lock themselves out of the system. Administrators have to reset the user’s password in Active Directory or Local NT, and then contact the user with a new temporary password to enable the user to log in. While these requests don’t take up too much time individually, collectively they can be time consuming and tedious compared to the every day tasks that need to be completed to ensure your network is running efficiently. The Password Reset Web Part alleviates site administrator workload associated with maintaining/resetting passwords allowing administrators to focus on other high priority tasks.