Is there a way I can define multiple password policies for local accounts for eg I have a Windows 2008 standalone server containing several admin and normal users’ accounts. I want different password length for admin and normal user accounts? Any way or tool to achieve this on a standalone server?

No, this is an all for one policy for 2003 server. Once you activate this policy it will blanket the whole local system. The same goes for a Domain Password policy it is all or nothing. Now in 2008 you have a service called fine grained password polices but only in an AD\DS environment not standalone http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770394(WS.10).aspx http://blogs.technet.com/b/seanearp/archive/2007/10/06/windows-server-2008-fine-grained-password-policy-walkthrough.aspx

Dariusq, I agree for a stand alone system. However, as far as domain password policy, if it's a win 2008 domain "you can use fine-grained password policies to specify multiple password policies within a single domain." This includes Minimum password length http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770394(WS.10).aspx

sorry, you edited your reply while i was typing.....

At the current time, regardless of the version of the stand-alone server system, there is no option to apply different policies to local accounts on the same computer.Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.

Thanks a Lot for your answers. Any clue about 3rd Party software which can define different password policies for stand-alone server system?

No third-party software that I know of since this is part of AD.