Password reset and locked accounts

Locked or just forgotten

Password tickets are the number one helpdesk load worldwide. First decide which case you have: a forgotten password (reset fixes it) or a locked account (three to five wrong attempts in a row trigger a temporary lockout in most companies).

Locked accounts usually unlock themselves after 15 to 30 minutes. Wait once before anything else — every new attempt restarts the timer.

Self-service first

Use the «forgot password» link on the login page, not a colleague admin account. Check caps lock, keyboard layout (passwords are layout sensitive), and that you are logging into the right domain — most «wrong password» tickets are a wrong username or a RU/EN layout slip.

What the admin checks

If self-service fails, support checks three things: account status (locked, disabled, expired password), recent logon failures with timestamps, and whether the password meets policy (length, history). Tell them your username, the exact error text and the time — that trio resolves most tickets in one round.

MFA lockouts are special

Multi-factor adds a second way to get locked: expired authenticator seeds after a phone swap, or push approvals going to the old device. Re-enroll MFA before decommissioning any phone, and keep one hardware-free fallback (printed codes) for the day the phone dies together with the charger.

Leavers and joiners

Half of account tickets cluster around people changes. Joiners need accounts before day one, not on it; leavers need disabling the same day, not «when someone remembers». A checklist owned by HR with IT as executor beats every automation nobody maintains.