Strong Passwords With PASSFILT.DLL Are Not Enforced

When strong password functionality is enabled on a Windows NT 4.0 computer, an Administrator will still be able to change a password, with the User Manager tool, in such a way that it no longer meets the criteria for strong passwords.

This behavior is by design. Strong password filtering is performed when password change requests arrive over the network, and weak passwords are rejected at that time. Direct changes to the security account manager (SAM) database are not filtered.